Japan begins probe into planes collision at Tokyo airport

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) - Japan on Wednesday began an investigation into the collision of two planes which resulted in the death of at least five crew members.

The Japan Transport Safety Board members and police visited the site of the crash at Haneda Airport in the capital Tokyo, Kyodo News reported.

The collision between an aircraft of Japan Airlines and a plane of Japan Coast Guard happened at around 5:49 p.m. on Tuesday (0849GMT).

Flight and voice recorders of the coast guard aircraft were recovered while that of the Japan Airlines plane were still missing.

Five of the six crew members of the coast guard plane were killed while 379 passengers, including crew of Japan Airlines aircraft, made a miraculous escape.

The coast guard plane was carrying relief material for the earthquake-hit people in Niigata province after Japan was hit by earthquakes of magnitude as high as 7.6 on Monday with epicenter in Noto Peninsula and surrounding areas on the Sea of Japan coast. At least 64 people have died in Ishikawa province due to the tremors.

The plane collision triggered the closure of all four runways, three of which were reopened late Tuesday. However, dozens of flights were canceled.

It took authorities more than eight hours to control flames on the Japan Airlines aircraft, produced by Airbus SAS with engines from UK’s Rolls-Royce and delivered in November 2021.