The five people reported missing Tuesday morning after the shocking accident at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport have died.
The year 2024 is off to a bad start in the land of the rising sun. While all eyes were already turned in its direction after the series of earthquakes that occurred on Monday January 1 in the center of the country, a terrible air accident occurred Tuesday morning on the runway of Tokyo-Haneda airport. According to Japanese public television, a Japan Airlines airliner, with 379 people on board, collided with a Japanese coast guard plane shortly after landing on the tarmac, causing an explosion and fire.
According to the Japan Airlines spokesperson, reported by NHK, 367 passengers, including eight children, and 12 crew members, were on board the airliner from the airport from the city of Sapporo, located in northern Japan. All would have managed to escape from the plane in time.
The passengers on the other plane, however, were not as lucky. Japanese Transport Minister Tetsuo Saito announced at midday that the five passengers on the coast guard plane, who were missing, died in the accident. Only the pilot managed to escape. The final toll from this accident is therefore five deaths. NHK specifies that the coast guard plane was preparing to take off to transport supplies to help after the terrible series of earthquakes which devastated the country on Monday. According to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, at least 70 fire engines and other vehicles were rushed to the airport tarmac to put out the fire.
While Tokyo-Haneda airport is one of the busiest in the world, the Japan Airport Building, in charge of managing the domestic terminal at Haneda airport, has for its part announced that all runways have been closed since 6 p.m. (i.e. 10 a.m., in Paris).