A Japan Airlines plane was in flames on the runway of Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Tuesday after colliding with a coast guard plane.
Images on showed the aircraft going down the runway before an explosion of orange flames erupted beneath and behind it.
According to NHK, all 367 passengers on board the Airbus airliner were evacuated.
The cause of the mishap was not immediately clear, although according to news sources, the Airbus crashed into a Coast Guard plane.
Reports states that the aircraft had just landed at Sapporo Airport on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.
A Coast Guard officer said they were “checking details” at Haneda Airport, one of the busiest in the world.
“It’s not clear if there was a collision. But it is certain that our plane is involved,” he told reporters.
The television picture showed flames shooting out of the windows and the aircraft’s nose crashing to the earth as rescuers doused it.
On the runway, there was also flaming debris.
According to NHK, more than 70 fire engines were mobilized.
Japan hasn’t had a major commercial aviation disaster in decades.
Its biggest disaster occurred in 1985, when a JAL jumbo jet flying from Tokyo to Osaka crashed in central Gunma, killing 520 passengers and crew.
According to reports, the accident was one of the world’s deadliest single-flight jet disasters.
