'I Was On It': Passenger Rescued From Burning Japan Plane, Shares Dramatic Visuals Of Aircraft On Runway

“Hi, I was on it. Everyone is safe and they are taking us to the terminal,” said a passenger from Japan Airlines which caught fire at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Tuesday after it possibly collided with a coast guard plane.

The passenger, William Manzione shared a visual of the plane, from the runway, which was engulfed in flames.

JAL flight 516 ignited after flying into Haneda from the northern Japanese city of Sapporo at 5:47 p.m. local time.

All 367 passengers were successfully evacuated from the blazing plane, Japanese broadcaster NHK said. The broadcaster said the captain of the Coast Guard plane survived, while the death toll from the plane crash has reached 5.

NHK citing Japan Airlines said the plane that caught fire is Flight 516 which flew in from New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. Japanese coast guard officials at the Haneda airport said they were checking the details. Haneda has closed all runways following the incident, a spokesperson for the airport told news agency Reuters.

The television footage showed flames coming out of windows as rescue workers sprayed the aircraft before flames engulfed the entire plane.

There was also burning debris on the runway and reports said the airport was closed to traffic.

More than 70 fire engines were being deployed, NHK reported.

“It’s not clear if there was a collision. But it is certain that our plane is involved,” the official was quoted as saying by news agency AFP.

Haneda is one of the busiest airports of the world and the nation, according to AFP has not suffered a serious commercial aviation accident in decades.

The incident underscores a grim start to 2024 for Japanese citizens who are emerging from a monster 7.5-magnitude earthquake that struck the nation’s Ishikawa Prefecture on Monday, which was followed by a 6-magnitude aftershock and at least 155 more aftershocks until Tuesday.