Five Coast Guard crew dead as planes collide at Tokyo's Haneda airport

Five out of six crewmembers on board a Japan Coast Guard aircraft have been confirmed dead after the aircraft collided with a Japan Airlines plane at Tokyo's Haneda airport on Tuesday, the Japanese transport minister said.

"Regarding the coast guard plane, we have been informed that the captain escaped and five people were confirmed dead," Tetsuo Saito told reporters.

The captain of the aircraft, a Bombardier-built Dash-8 maritime patrol plane, was injured.

A coast guard spokesperson earlier said five of the crew were unaccounted for but that the captain had escaped.

Swede Anton Deibe, 17, who was a passenger on the Japan Airlines plane, told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet that “the entire cabin was filled with smoke within a few minutes. We threw ourselves down on the floor. Then the emergency doors were opened and we threw ourselves at them.

“The smoke in the cabin stung like hell. It was a hell. We have no idea where we are going so we just run out into the field. It was chaos," added Deibe, who was traveling with his parents and sister.

(Reuters, AFP and AP)

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