The JAL flight crew “confirmed” permission to land, the airline said.
January 3, 2024, 5:16 am ET
• 4 min reading
When a Japan Airlines plane caught fire on a runway in Tokyo on Tuesday, the flight crew ejected hundreds of passengers using megaphones and “their own voices,” the airline said Wednesday.
“The aircraft’s announcement system did not function properly during the evacuation,” the airline said in a news release.
All 367 passengers and 12 crew were evacuated after the plane rammed a Japanese Coast Guard plane while landing at Haneda Airport in Tokyo.
In a statement on Wednesday, the airline explained the moments before and during the landing and said the three crew members in the cockpit had been cleared to land. It was said that there were eight small children on board the Airbus A350.
Officials look at the burned wreckage of a Japan Airlines passenger plane on the tarmac at Tokyo International Airport at Haneda in Tokyo on January 3, 2024.Richard A. Brooks/AFP via Getty Images
Everyone left the plane via three emergency exits, the airline said. The passengers “successfully performed an emergency evacuation” when the plane burst into flames, the airline said.
At least 14 passengers requested medical consultations. One person had bruising and 13 others sought consultation “due to physical complaints,” the airline said.
An aerial photo shows the burned Japan Airlines Airbus A350 aircraft after a collision with a Japanese Coast Guard aircraft at Haneda International Airport in Tokyo, Japan, January 3, 2024. Kyodo via Portal
Flight JAL516 left New Chitose Airport in Sapporo, Japan, promptly at around 3:50 p.m. on Tuesday. Japan Airlines said there were “no problems or irregularities” during departure or the flight. It landed late at 5:47 p.m
“According to interviews with the operational crew, they confirmed and reiterated air traffic control permission to land and then proceeded with approach and landing procedures,” Japan Airlines said in a statement.
According to Japanese officials, the plane hit a Japanese Coast Guard plane, killing five of the six crew members on board. Videos from the scene showed the larger plane bursting into flames as it taxied down the runway.
In this screenshot from a social media video, people sit amid smoke on a Japan Airlines A350 plane. Social Media via Portal
The Airbus was a total loss after it burst into flames on the runway, the airline said.
The aircraft, registered as JA13XJ, was delivered to Japan Airlines on November 10, 2021, Airbus said in a statement on Tuesday. Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines powered the aircraft.
The French plane maker said it was sending “a team of specialists” to Japan to help French and Japanese investigators investigate the crash.
ABC News' Will Gretsky and Clara McMichael contributed to this story.