Two planes collided on a runway in Japan, the country’s second airport tragedy in as many weeks. A Korean Air Lines plane collided with a Cathay Pacific Airways plane at New Chitose Airport on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido on Tuesday, a Korean Air official said. Hokkaido Airports, which manages New Chitose Airport, got a report at 5:30 p.m. local time. According to an airline official, the disaster occurred as the Korean Air plane was about to take off. While the Korean Air plane had over 280 passengers and crew, the Cathay Pacific plane had no passengers when it arrived, according to NHK.
According to the fire department, there was no fire and no one has been reported as injured so far. More than 46 flights have been cancelled today alone at the airport due to the snowy conditions in the region. A statement from the airport before the crash read: “New Chitose Airport is experiencing flight delays and cancellations today due to heavy snow. Please check with your airline for details.”
A Japan Airlines erupted into flames after the collision with a coastguard aircraft on the runway on January 2
An airport representative was not immediately available for comment. It comes barely two weeks after a tragic jet collision at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport left five people dead. A Japan Airlines erupted into flames after the collision with a coastguard aircraft on the runway on January 2. Footage from within the Japan Airlines Airbus-A350, which was carrying 379 people, including eight children, showed smoke pouring from beneath its wings as it arrived at Tokyo’s Haneda airport at around 5.45 pm local time (8.45 am GMT).
When the jet came to a halt, it was enveloped in flames as rescuers raced to evacuate all of the passengers. The collision killed five coastguard crew members. The pilot survived but was critically injured. A passenger on the commercial flight described how their plane seemed to crash with the other aircraft. “I felt a boom,” an unidentified passenger told Kyodo news agency, “like we hit something and jerked upward the moment we landed.” “I noticed sparks outside the window, and the cabin was filled with gas and smoke.”
