Japan Plane Crash: 5 Crew Onboard Coast Guard Plane At Tokyo Airport Dead - Report

Tokyo: Five of the six people on the coast guard plane have died after it reportedly collided with a Japan Airlines plane on the runway of Tokyo's Haneda Airport today, local media reports said. The captain escaped while the remaining five remained unaccounted and were later reported dead.

"Fire accident at Haneda Airport: 5 people on Japan Coast Guard plane killed, captain seriously injured, nNHK said citing Metropolitan Police Department.

The coast guard aircraft was an Ma72 fixed-wing aircraft, the reports said.

The Japan Airlines plane, with 379 people onboard, was in flames after the collision. All 379, including eight children and 12 crew members, on board the Airbus plane were safely evacuated.

Visuals showed flames coming out of the windows and the plane's nose on the ground as rescue workers sprayed it. Burning debris were also seen on the runway. A spokesperson for Japan Airlines said the aircraft had departed from Shin-Chitose airport in Hokkaido. The Japanese Coast Guard says it is investigating the possibility of a crash between one of its aircraft and the passenger jet. The airline said that it is still assessing the extent of the damage.

Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida instructed relevant agencies to coordinate to assess the damage swiftly, according to his office.

Haneda has closed all runways following the incident, a spokesperson for the airport said as per news agency Reuters. Haneda is one of the busiest airports in Japan, and many people travel over the New Year holidays.

Japan saw its worst ever commercial aviation accident in 1985, when a JAL jumbo jet flying from Tokyo to Osaka crashed in central Gunma region. 520 passengers and crew were killed back then. That disaster was one of the world's deadliest plane crashes involving a single flight.

The accident came a day after a powerful earthquake struck central Japan on Monday, killing at least 30 people, destroying buildings and knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes.