A Japan Airlines plane was seen on fire on Tuesday as it landed on a runway at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport and apparently collided with a Japan Coast Guard aircraft.
The airline said all 379 passengers and crew members had been safely evacuated.
The coast guard said the pilot had escaped its aircraft but the other five crew members were unaccounted for, Sky News reported. The plane was due to travel to the guard’s Niigata base to assist with recovery efforts after a series of earthquakes.
Footage from local broadcaster NHK shows the aircraft ablaze on the runway. Earlier footage posted online showed a burst of flames as the plane landed.
Japan Airlines said the flight is JAL flight 516 that had departed from New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, NHK reported.
All of Haneda Airport’s runways have been closed since around 6pm local time, The Japan Times reported, with flights being diverted to Narita Airport.
Authorities were still working to extinguish the blaze, which appeared to have spread to most of the plane, more than an hour after the flight landed.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.