We do begin tonight though, with this horrific crash.
A passenger plane crashing into a Coast Guard plane while
coming in for a landing in Tokyo.
The awful moment caught on video.
The passenger plane touching down,
colliding with that second plane erupting into a fireball,
trailing smoke as it continues down the runway.
The passengers soon racing to escape down the emergency slide
Right there.
379 passengers and crew on that Japan Airlines flight getting
off just before it was completely engulfed in flames.
5 crew members on the Coast Guard cargo plane did
not survive this this crash,
part of Japan's twin tragedies.
That Coast Guard plane was actually full of supplies bound
for the part of Japan devastated by an earthquake on
New Year's just 24 hours earlier tonight.
Hear the investigation of course.
How did this happen? AB CS Matt Gutman leading us
off on the scene in Tokyo
tonight. The urgent investigation into how this Japan Airlines flight
landing at one of the busiest airports in the world
collided with the Japanese Coast Guard plane readying for take
off. Video showing the moment of impact.
Flight 516 loaded with
379 passengers and crew engulfed in flames blazing down the
runway,
the plane sliding to a stop on its nose and
belly.
Inside, smoke fills the cabin,
emergency slides deployed and dozens of firefighters dousing the wreckage
with fire retardant landing,
landing, landing after fire. And then.
But they went on the slides.
The emergency exit. Yes, yes,
yes. We spoke to Yamake who was on that flight
and says this video was shot from his seat.
Fire shooting from the engine.
Then what he saw on the outside,
the plane on his belly foam raining down as fire
incinerated the wing.
Miraculously, everyone on board was evacuated within seconds,
authorities saying 17 people suffered injuries.
Tonight the runway is closed and only the charred hole
remains.
Experts crediting the carbon fiber fuselage and passengers heeding the
commands of cabin crew.
With all those lives saved.
Almost always these incursions of these near misses are the
result of human error.
Whether it was human error in the control tower,
on the ground, in one of the cockpits,
that's something that the Japanese will need to determine.
French crash investigators, joined by 5 investigators from Airbus,
will travel to Japan. This is what they'll be focusing
on.
Communication with air traffic control.
Japanese authorities saying five members of that Coast Guard plane
sitting on the runway were killed.
This was part of the twin tragedies that struck Japan.
Within 24 hours, that Coast Guard flight headed to western
Japan to deliver aid after a massive
7.6 earthquake shook the country hours into the new year.
The quake sparking fires and liquefying the ground,
triggering mud slides. With the death toll they are rising.
At least 55 people have died as rescuers raced to
find trapped residents under collapsed buildings and more tremors.
Today, as new footage shows the widespread destruction.
Rd. split in two homes buried under the mud.
Just extraordinary these two disasters for Japan.
Matt Gutman with us there live at the airport in
Tokyo.
Matt, you were telling us before we came on tonight
that some of those passengers
are the ones who've been stranded trying to rebook flights.
And what a miracle that so many these passengers,
the entire passengers and crew,
all got off before this was engulfed in flames.
As investigators continue to probe this crash,
David, it is becoming clear that had that Coast Guard
plane knows even just a few feet farther onto the
runway,
it might have collided not with the wing and the
engine of Flight
516, but with its fuselage causing what experts tell us
would have been a catastrophic explosion.
Those passengers on board telling us that there was no
panic,
everybody exited the plane in an orderly fashion and they
heeded the commands of the crew to leave their personal
belongings on that plane.
An extraordinary crew, of course.
Matt. Government leading us off here tonight,
Matt. Thank you.