Tokyo, 2 January 2024 (dpa/MIA) - All 379 passengers and crew on a plane which caught fire while landing at Tokyo's Haneda Airport are safe, Japan Airlines (JAL) announced on Tuesday.

The plane had collided on the tarmac with a Japanese coastguard aircraft, Japanese media reported, citing the Ministry of Transport. Five people on the coastguard plane were reported dead.

The pilot, one of six on board, was seriously injured.

Flight 516, a commercial plane from Hokkaido in northern Japan, caught fire on the runway and eventually burnt out completely. There were 367 passengers and 12 crew members on board, who were all able to leave the aircraft.

According to the television station TBS, the coastguard aircraft was transporting material to the earthquake zone on the west coast of the country. At least 48 people have died in a series of earthquakes there since New Year's Day.

Images from TBS showed the passengers of the commercial aircraft leaving via an emergency slide while firefighting operations were being carried out. An explosive fireball could later be seen.

MIA file photo