Last updated Jan 2, 11:20 UTC; this post is superseded here
JAL flight 516 (registration JA13XJ) Airbus A350-900 from Sapporo to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport collided while landing with a coast guard aircraft JA722A De Havilland Canada DHC-8-315Q MPA “Dash-8” that belonged to Haneda Air Base, which was awaiting departure to Niigata with aid following the New Year’s Day Earthquake.
All 367 passengers and 12 crew members escaped the passenger plane, while five people on the coast guard plane were still unaccounted for, NHK reported.
The pilot of the coast guard aircraft had evacuated and contacted officials.
CNN reports that 17 passengers on board JAL516 were injured.
A later press statement from Japan Airlines SVP Noriyuki Aoki clarified that “only four” passengers went to hospital for “feeling unwell,” of which two for smoke inhalation, while the pilots are now being interviewed about the final moments of the flight. Eight children were among the 367 passengers.
Regarding JA722A, CNN reports:
Five crew members died on the second aircraft, a De Havilland Canada DHC-8, according to Japan’s transport minister, Tetsuo Saito. Public broadcaster NHK said the plane’s captain was in a critical condition.
This is plausible due to the fact that they were shuffling coastguard flights among the commercial flights. A simple misheard air traffic response could certainly have caused this disaster.
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