Japanese media reported on Wednesday that police are investigating whether negligence was a factor in the collision of a passenger plane with a smaller aircraft at Haneda Airport in Tokyo. This comes as transportation authorities in the country begin examining the wreckage for evidence.
All 379 passengers and crew aboard the Airbus A350 operated by Japan Airlines survived after the plane caught fire at Haneda on Tuesday evening due to a collision with a smaller Dash-8 aircraft belonging to the Coast Guard upon landing. Five out of six crew members of the Coast Guard aircraft were killed in the incident. The aircraft and its crew were part of the response teams for a strong earthquake that struck the western coast of the country.
Aviation experts state that the number of similar runway collisions has notably decreased thanks to modern ground tracking technologies and procedures, which had once posed a recurring safety issue. Japanese authorities have not yet determined the cause of the collision.
Media outlets, including Kyodo News and Nikkei Asia, reported that Tokyo Metropolitan Police are looking into whether potential professional negligence was among the factors leading to the incident, which resulted in fatalities and injuries. A police spokesperson stated that a special unit has been established at the airport to investigate the matter regarding the runway and plans to interview all those connected to the incident, but he refrained from commenting on their exploration of negligence as a possible cause.
Surveillance recordings available on a tracking website indicate that Japan Airlines was informed of the possibility to continue its approach and was granted landing clearance two minutes before the authorities reported that a collision occurred on the same runway. Haneda Airport has yet to comment on these recordings.
Japan Airlines stated in a release on Tuesday that the aircraft received and confirmed the landing clearance from air traffic control before approaching and executing its landing on the runway. The Coast Guard declined to comment on the circumstances surrounding the collision.
Informed sources noted that the Japan Transport Safety Board is also conducting a separate investigation with the involvement of French and British agencies, as the Airbus was manufactured in France and the aircraft's Rolls-Royce engines were produced in the UK. Airbus also announced that it would send technical advisors to assist in the investigation.
Kyodo reported that authorities are expected to start the removal of the charred wreckage of the Japan Airlines plane after noon and that footage showed police and firefighters searching the crash site for evidence on Wednesday.
