News - 5 people killed after collision of 2 planes, fire at Tokyo airport

A passenger plane burst into flames as it landed at a Tokyo airport Tuesday, after a collision with a coast guard aircraft that killed five people, officials said, NBC News reported. All 379 passengers and crew members made it out of the Japan Airlines plane, Transport Minister Tetsuo Saito said at a news conference. The coast guard pilot escaped, but five crew members were killed, he added. The coast guard aircraft was flying earthquake relief to Niigata prefecture on the country’s west coast after a series of strong tremors killed at least 55 people and left widespread damage, Saito said. There was no immediate information about the cause of the accident, he added. A local fire department deployed at least 70 firetrucks and other vehicles to extinguish the fire, NHK added. The passenger plane had entered the airport's runway and then crashed into the coast guard plane on the runway, said Shigenori Hiraoka, the director general of the ministry’s civil aviation bureau. The Transport Safety Board will investigate immediately, he said at a joint news conference with coast guard officials. French accident investigators are also headed to the scene, the Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety said on X, former Twitter.