Japan plane fire: What happened?
As firefighters and rescue crews work on the ground following a huge plane fire at Tokyo’s Haneda airport in Japan, investigators behind the scenes will try to piece together how it happened.
Captured in dramatic footage from the scene, a Japan Airlines aircraft can be seen bursting into flames and moving along the runway in a burning inferno following a collision with a coast guard plane.
Tokyo plane crash – live updates
Japan has already been hit by tragedy following an earthquake on New Year’s Day, with dozens dead and warnings of aftershocks.
Haneda is one of the busiest airports in Japan, and many people travel over the New Year holiday. As details from the scene continue to emerge, here is everything we know about the plane collision so far.
Which planes were involved?
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The moment plane bursts into flames
The domestic Japan Airlines Flight 516, an Airbus A350, had flown out of Shin Chitose airport in the northern island of Hokkaido, down to Tokyo’s Haneda airport on the main island of Honshu. It was carrying 379 people, including crew.
The collision also involved the coastguard aircraft MA722, a De Havilland Canada DHC-8-315Q MPA – also known as a Bombardier Dash-8 – which had six people including the pilot on board.
It had been preparing to fly to the port city of Niigata to deliver aid to those affected by the earthquake at the time of the collision, which took place at 5.47pm local time (8.47am in the UK).
Pilot and aviation consultant Tim Atkinson says the Bombardier Dash-8 is typically a short-haul airliner with about 50 to 80 seats. They are “not anything like the size of the A350s” but are “sizeable enough to have a significant volume of fuel on board”, he told Sky News.
The passenger plane either collided with the coastguard aircraft on the runway or taxiway after it touched down, Japan Airlines reportedly told the Kyodo news agency.
A Bombardier Dash plane – not the one involved in the collision
Passengers and crew
All 367 passengers and 12 crew on board the passenger flight were evacuated safely, Japan Airlines said.
The passengers included eight children, Kyodo reported.
“We have just witnessed a miracle,” former commercial pilot Roger Whitefield told Sky News, as footage from the scene played out. “The way they got all those passengers off that aeroplane is almost beyond belief.”
While the coastguard plane pilot managed to evacuate, the five other crew members were killed, public broadcaster NHK reported.
Japan’s transport minister confirmed the pilot of the coast guard plane was injured in the collision.
What caused the collision?
It is too early to say at this stage exactly why the passenger plane hit the smaller aircraft as it landed.
Mr Atkinson, who is also an air accident investigator, said a busy airport in the evening is a “very visually challenging environment” for everyone involved – from air traffic controllers to pilots and vehicle drivers – with “an awful lot of lights of various colours, some of which are flashing”.
He said: “As one approaches a runway at night, it’s often very difficult to perceive those little signs of, for example, a relatively small aircraft.”
Accident investigators will be looking into why the two aircraft were in the same location simultaneously and whether they were both where they should have been, Mr Atkinson said.
Flight Radar 24, which tracks flights across the world, offered more details on the collision, saying the coastguard plane was not equipped with a modern ADS-B transponder.
ADS-B transponders are used to transmit highly accurate information about an aircraft’s position to ground controllers and directly to other aircraft, and are more accurate than using conventional radar surveillance.
What does footage show?
Pic: NHK
Local TV video showed a large eruption of fire and smoke from the side of the Japan Airlines plane as it taxied on a runway.
The area around the wing then caught fire, and footage an hour later showed the plane fully engulfed in flames.
As firefighters battled to control the blaze, the Japan Airlines aircraft appeared to break in two.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has said it is investigating the collision.
What have survivors said?
One passenger posted footage from inside the Japan Airlines aircraft as it careered down the runway. The clip then showed people being evacuated down a slide.
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Inside the Japan Airlines flight
Some passengers have also spoken out following their ordeal.
Swede Anton Deibe, 17, told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet that the “entire cabin was filled with smoke within a few minutes”.
He said: “We threw ourselves down on the floor. Then the emergency doors were opened and we threw ourselves at them.
“The smoke in the cabin stung like hell. It was a hell. We have no idea where we are going so we just run out into the field. It was chaos.”
Mr Deibe said he was traveling with his parents and sister.
“I felt a boom like we had hit something and jerked upward the moment we landed,” another passenger told Kyodo. “I saw sparks outside the window and the cabin filled with gas and smoke.”
What happens next?
Tetsuo Saito, Japan’s transport minister, said the airport would be closed while the collision is under investigation by aviation safety investigators and police.
However, there are hopes it can be reopened tomorrow or possibly sooner.
He added that officials are doing their best to prevent any delays to earthquake relief.
World
Stock markets slump for second day running after Trump announces tariffs – in worst day for indexes since COVID
Worldwide stock markets have plummeted for the second day running as the fallout from Donald Trump’s global tariffs continues.
While European and Asian markets suffered notable falls, American indexes were the worst hit, with Wall Street closing to a sea of red on Friday following Thursday’s rout – the worst day in US markets since the COVID-19 pandemic.
As it happened: Worst week’s trading in five years
All three of the US’s major indexes were down by more than 5% at market close; The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 5.5%, the S&P 500 was 5.97% lower, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 5.82%.
The Nasdaq was also 22% below its record-high set in December, which indicates a bear market.
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Ever since the US president announced the tariffs on Wednesday evening, analysts estimate that around $4.9trn (£3.8trn) has been wiped off the value of the global stock market.
Mr Trump has remained unapologetic as the markets struggle, posting in all-caps on Truth Social before the markets closed that “only the weak will fail”.
The UK’s leading stock market, the FTSE 100, also suffered its worst daily drop in more than five years, closing 4.95% down, a level not seen since March 2020.
And the Japanese exchange Nikkei 225 dropped by 2.75% at end of trading, down 20% from its recent peak in July last year.
US indexes had the worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. Pic: Reuters
Trump holds trade deal talks – reports
It comes as a source told CNN that Mr Trump has been in discussions with Vietnamese, Indian and Israeli representatives to negotiate bespoke trade deals that could alleviate proposed tariffs on those countries before a deadline next week.
The source told the US broadcaster the talks were being held in advance of the reciprocal levies going into effect next week.
Vietnam faced one of the highest reciprocal tariffs announced by the US president this week, with 46% rates on imports. Israeli imports face a 17% rate, and Indian goods will be subject to 26% tariffs.
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Do Trump’s tariffs add up?
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China – hit with 34% tariffs on imported goods – has also announced it will issue its own levy of the same rate on US imports.
Mr Trump said China “played it wrong” and “panicked – the one thing they cannot afford to do” in another all-caps Truth Social post earlier on Friday.
Later, on Air Force One, the US president told reporters that “the beauty” of the tariffs is that they allow for negotiations, referencing talks with Chinese company ByteDance on the sale of social media app TikTok.
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Tariffs: Xi hits back at Trump
He said: “We have a situation with TikTok where China will probably say, ‘We’ll approve a deal, but will you do something on the tariffs?’
“The tariffs give us great power to negotiate. They always have.”
World
Financial markets were always going to respond to Trump tariffs but they’re also battling with another problem
South Korea’s constitutional court has confirmed the dismissal of President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached in December after declaring martial law.
His decision to send troops onto the streets led to the country’s worst political crisis in decades.
The court ruled to uphold the impeachment saying the conservative leader “violated his duty as commander-in-chief by mobilising troops” when he declared martial law.
The president was also said to have taken actions “beyond the powers provided in the constitution”.
Demonstrators stayed overnight near the constitutional court. Pic: AP
Supporters and opponents of the president gathered in their thousands in central Seoul as they awaited the ruling.
The 64-year-old shocked MPs, the public and international allies in early December when he declared martial law, meaning all existing laws regarding civilians were suspended in place of military law.
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The court was under heavy police security guard ahead of the announcement. Pic: AP
After suddenly declaring martial law, Mr Yoon sent hundreds of soldiers and police officers to the National Assembly.
He has argued that he sought to maintain order, but some senior military and police officers sent there have told hearings and investigators that Mr Yoon ordered them to drag out politicians to prevent an assembly vote on his decree.
His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on 14 December, accusing him of rebellion.
The unanimous verdict to uphold parliament’s impeachment and remove Mr Yoon from office required the support of at least six of the court’s eight justices.
South Korea must hold a national election within two months to find a new leader.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, is the early favourite to become the country’s next president, according to surveys.
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