Plane at Japan's Haneda Airport catches fire, 400 passengers rescued

A Japan Airlines plane burst into flames on the runway of Tokyo's Haneda airport on Tuesday, according to a report by news agency Associated Press (AP). Japan's Coast Guard spokesperson Yoshinori Yanagishima confirmed that it happened due to the plane's collision with the Coast Guard aircraft MA722.

The cause of the collision is yet to be officially determined.

Reports suggest that the plane had about 400 passengers, and all were rescued. Five passengers on the Coast Guard's plane are also reportedly safe. The plane was JAL flight 516 and had flown out of Shin Chitose airport in Japan to Haneda.

The incident has prompted a massive emergency response, with at least 70 fire trucks and other vehicles dispatched by the Tokyo Fire Department to extinguish the flames, as reported by NHK.

Videos on Japanese media channels 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.

Later, the video showed fire crews working to put out the fire with streams of water. The flames had spread to much of the plane.

The Japanese government set up an information liaison room at the Crisis Management Centre of the Prime Minister's Office at 6:05 pm (Japanese time) on Tuesday to collect and coordinate information regarding the incident. In response to the emergency, all runways at Haneda Airport were closed around 6 pm, causing significant disruptions to air traffic.

Haneda is one of the busiest airports in Japan, and many people travel over the New Year holidays.

This also comes just a day after several high-magnitude earthquakes hit Japan. The most powerful was a 7.5 magnitude earthquake that hit central Japan's Ishikawa Prefecture. The death toll of the earthquakes has risen to 48.

These quakes have also caused widespread damage to property.