Five of the six people on the coast guard plane died after a runway collision with a Japan Airlines plane at Tokyo's Haneda Airport on Tuesday, the Japanese transport minister said. The coast guard aircraft was an Ma72 fixed-wing aircraft, reports said.
The accident came a day after a powerful earthquake struck central Japan on Monday, killing at least 30 people, destroying buildings and knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes. The Jiji news agency reported the coast guard plane was scheduled to leave to help with rescue efforts following a massive earthquake in central Japan.
The Japan Airlines plane was seen moving along the runaway when a large explosion of orange flames exploded from beneath and behind it. All 379, including eight children and 12 crew members, on board the Airbus plane have been evacuated.
Visuals showed flames coming out of the windows and the plane's nose on the ground as rescue workers sprayed it. Burning debris were also seen on the runway. As per reports, more than 70 fire engines have been deployed to extinguish the fire.
Reports said that the plane had just arrived from Sapporo airport on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. A coast guard official at Haneda Airport, one of the world's busiest, said they were "checking details".
All runways at the Haneda airport have been closed after the accident, an official said.
Japan has not suffered a serious commercial aviation accident in decades.
Its worst ever was in 1985, when a JAL jumbo jet flying from Tokyo to Osaka crashed in central Gunma region, killing 520 passengers and crew.
That disaster was one of the world's deadliest plane crashes involving a single flight.
