Japan Airlines Plane With Over 300 Passengers Catches Fire While Landing At Tokyo Airport

• A would-be routine landing for Japan Airlines flight JAL 516 took a horrible turn when the aircraft caught fire
• The flight was carrying 379 passengers and 12 crew members when the incident happened at Haneda Airport
• Details indicate that the aircraft went ablaze after it reportedly collided with a Coast Guard aircraft

Haneda Airport in Tokyo was the scene of terror this morning when a Japan Airlines aircraft with over 300 passengers burst into flames.

Videos shared on social media captured tens of terrified passengers who were seen running for their lives as yellow flames consumed the speed bird.

Flight JAL 516 collided with another aircraft

The terrifying clips showed emergency vehicles speeding along the tarmac as rescuers raced to dowse the fierce inferno.

BBC News reports that the aircraft went ablaze after it allegedly collided with a Japanese Coast Guard aircraft.

The Coast Guard aircraft was reportedly headed to deliver aid packages to areas affected by the earthquakes which struck the country.

Details indicate that the plane, flight number JAL 516, was flying from Hokkaido to the country's capital city with 379 passengers on board.

Escape was miraculous

The welcome news is that all the passengers on board were evacuated, along with the 12-member crew and the captain.

"We have just witnessed a miracle The way they got all those passengers off that aeroplane is almost beyond belief," former commercial pilot Roger Whitefield told the media.

Regrettably, Al Jazeera reports that five of the six passengers on the Coast Guard aircraft had died, while the captain survived.

As of when this report was filed, all runways at the busy airport had been closed and flights cancelled.

Japanese economy shrinking

The incident occurs when Japan is going through economic struggles worsened by a wave of earthquakes that have recently rocked the county.

In November 2023, government data indicated that the Japanese economy had shrunk by 0.5 per cent in the third quarter.

Following two consecutive quarters of growth, the shrinking of the world's number three economy was worse than the market consensus of a 0.1% contraction.