/ CBS/AP
TV video showed a large burst of fire erupt from the side of a Japan Airlines plane as it taxied down a runway Tuesday at Haneda Airport near Japan's capital. The wing of the passenger plane, and later the entire plane, appeared to be engulfed in flames after the incident, which reportedly involved a likely crash with another aircraft.
It wasn't immediately clear what had happened or if there were injuries, but Japan's state broadcaster NHK TV, citing officials with national carrier Japan Airlines (JAL), said all passengers and crew — about 400 people — had been evacuated. The network said the plane was JAL flight 516, which had flown out of Shin Chitose airport in Japan to Haneda, a major international air hub outside Tokyo.
The Japan Coast Guard said it was looking into unconfirmed reports that one of its planes had crashed into a JAL flight at Haneda.
The AFP news agency quoted a coast guard official at Haneda Airport as saying the agency was still "checking details," and that it wasn't clear if there had been a collision, but that it was "certain that our plane is involved."
Haneda is one of the busiest airports in Japan, and many people travel over the New Year holidays.
The incident came just a day after a series of earthquakes rocked western Japan, killing almost 50 people in the Ishikawa prefecture.
- In:
- Tokyo
- Airplane Crash
- Fire
- Asia
- Japan
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