November 22, 2024 13:30 (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
PM Modi bestowed Dominica's highest award at India-CARICOM Summit | 69-year-old Delhi man, a St. Stephen's alumnus, arrested for conning govt officers by posing as ex-IPS | 'Baseless': Adani Group denies US charges of bribery and fraud against Gautam Adani | AAP's first list of candidates for Delhi polls feature six turncoats | PM Modi is incapable to arrest Gautam Adani: Rahul Gandhi after tycoon charged with bribery and fraud in the US
Over 300 flights cancelled after Tokyo airport collision killing 5; the plane was cleared to land
Japan plane crash
Photo Courtesy: UNI/Xinhua

Over 300 flights cancelled after Tokyo airport collision killing 5; the plane was cleared to land

| @indiablooms | 03 Jan 2024, 12:06 pm

Tokyo/UNI/IBNS: Airlines were forced to cancel over 300 flights following the collision between a Japan Coast Guard aircraft and a Japan Airlines passenger plane at Tokyo's Haneda Airport on Tuesday evening even as reports said the plane was cleared to land ahead of the tragedy.

The crash forced the airport to shut down all runways for several hours on Tuesday evening, leading to cancellations of 226 flights to and from Haneda, affecting over 40,000 passengers.

Despite the reopening of three runways on Wednesday, about 100 flights are still expected to be scrubbed on the day, disrupting the travel plans of 19,000 passengers.

At around 6 p.m. local time on Tuesday, Japan Airlines (JAL) Flight 516, an Airbus A-350 that had flown from New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido Prefecture was landing on Handa's C-runway when the Coast Guard flight MA-722, a Bombardier Dash-8, collided with it, with both aircraft catching fire.

Television footage on Tuesday showed a large burst of fire erupting from the side of the JAL plane as it taxied on a runway. The area around the wing then caught fire. The footage seen an hour later showed the blaze engulfed the aircraft.

Five of the six crew members aboard the MA-722 were confirmed dead, while the captain who managed to escape earlier was severely injured.

The flight was cleared to land

According to The Japan Times, at 5:43 p.m. local time, control-tower staff told pilots of the Airbus A350-900 jet to continue their approach into Haneda. A minute and a half later, the flight was given clearance to land, according to audio posted on LiveATC.net, which tracks airport communications, reported the daily.

However, all 367 passengers and 12 crew members on board the JAL flight escaped from the airplane while it was on fire without life-threatening injuries after the collision.

The Tokyo Fire Department said it took more than eight hours to extinguish the fire following the crash.

A Haneda air traffic controller had permitted the passenger plane to land on a runway before the crash took place, and had ordered the coast guard aircraft to "hold short of the runway," national broadcaster NHK reported, citing sources with Japan's transport ministry.

The Japan Transport Safety Board, the government-affiliated agency in charge of probing serious accidents involving airplanes, trains and ships, on Wednesday started investigating the cause of the accident and examining the aircraft wreckage.

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
Related Images
Xi Jinping, Putin in Russia 22 Mar 2023, 02:56 pm
Related Videos