Five people killed after two planes crash at Japan's Haneda Airport

A Japan Airlines plane on fire at Haneda Airport.
A Japan Airlines plane on fire at Haneda Airport. Copyright Kyodo News via AP
Copyright Kyodo News via AP
By Euronews with AP
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Footage showed an apparent explosion while plane taxied on the ground.

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A plane caught fire on the runway of Tokyo's Haneda airport on Tuesday after two aircraft apparently collided on the ground, killing five people.

Local TV video showed a large burst of fire erupt from the side of a Japan Airlines plane as it taxied on a runway. The area around on the wing then caught fire.

According to Japan Airlines, the fire broke out after the aircraft collided with a plane operated by the Japan Coast Guard. Five coast guard personnel were killed in the accident, officials confirmed on Tuesday.

The airline said the nearly 400 passengers and crew on board had been safely evacuated.

Initial reports on the Coast Guard plane say that while five of its crew were killed, the pilot apparently escaped the blaze.

Later video showed fire crews working to put out the fire on the Airbus A350. It wasn't immediately clear what had happened or if there were injuries. NHK TV reported that the plane was JAL flight 516 that had flown out of Shin Chitose airport in Japan to Haneda.

Haneda is one of the busiest airports in Japan.

The Coast Guard plane was reportedly en route to an area on Japan's west coast damaged by an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale. At least 48 people are thought to have been killed, with others still buried under collapsed buildings.

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