Two Plane Crash in Tokyo Leaves Five Dead

On Tuesday, five members of the Coast Guard died after their Bombardier DHC8-300 aircraft collided with an Airbus A350 in Haneda, one of the two international airports serving Tokyo.

RELATED:

Strong Earthquakes Hit Japan

The incident occurred when the Japan Airlines Flight 516 from Sapporo collided with the Coast Guard's aircraft as soon as it landed at 5:47 p.m. local time.

One of the commercial flight's engines then caught fire, although the fire was later put out by firefighters, while all airport runways were closed.

After the incident, 17 out of 379 occupants of the Japan Airlines plane were injured. On the Coast Guard aircraft, five occupants died and the captain survived but is seriously injured.

Although the causes of the accident are still being investigated, Yoshio Seguchi, deputy director of the Japan Coast Guard, said that the captain of the ship reported that "the plane exploded on the runway and that he managed to escape."

The Coast Guard plane was heading to its base at Niigata airport in order to deliver humanitarian aid to people affected by the 7.6 magnitude earthquake that shook the west of the country on Monday.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida set up a liaison group to gather information on the causes of the accident and asked some ministers to make "every effort to investigate the collision."

The accident forced Haneda Airport to close its four runways while investigations continue, although authorities hope to resume operations later. Both JAL and All Nippon Airways canceled all flights to and from Haneda following the accident.