Passengers recall critical moments of Japanese plane fire

“We have to go!” a child shouted from the burning cabin, where smoke and heat were spreading rapidly. Passengers then quickly escaped the plane using the evacuation slides. By then, the fire had spread throughout the fuselage and if only a few minutes had passed, who knows what could have happened.

Passengers recall the dangerous area in the plane crash in Japan, picture 1 — The plane caught fire immediately after landing, after which passengers quickly escaped using evacuation slides. Photo: Kyodo

"We breathed a sigh of relief knowing we were alive"

"I felt a crash, like the plane hit something when it landed. I saw sparks outside the window and the cabin was filled with gas and smoke," a 35-year-old woman sitting next to the window said of the crash, which happened just before 6 p.m. Tuesday.

"We were instructed to crouch down and cover our mouths and noses. When the plane started to burn, we still couldn't get out of the plane and I felt like it took more than five minutes for us to get out," she recounted after reaching safety, her voice trembling at times.

Fire engulfed the Airbus A350 commercial aircraft that had just landed at Haneda Airport from the city of Sapporo. All 379 people on board escaped without serious injury. However, five of the six crew members on the Coast Guard plane were unfortunately killed.

“I thought it would be dangerous because the smoke kept getting worse after the fire broke out,” said a 33-year-old man who was on the flight with his wife and two-year-old daughter.

Passengers recall the dangerous area in the plane crash in Japan, photo 2 — Fortunately, all passengers managed to escape before the plane turned into a fireball. Photo: AFP

When the in-flight announcement urged passengers to remain calm, the man desperately tried to protect his daughter, holding her head close to the floor to prevent her from inhaling smoke. He consoled her by saying: "Everything is fine, it will be fine." The father later said: "We breathed a sigh of relief knowing we were alive."

His 29-year-old wife said everyone panicked when they saw the fire. "The smoke was so thick we could only see our feet even though the flight attendants were shining lights. Some of the children were having difficulty breathing," she said, adding that others were crying and screaming.

"I thought I couldn't survive"

The initial fire, seen at the rear of the aircraft's cabin, quickly spread and engulfed the entire plane. Flames erupted from windows and doors, and firefighters struggled to put out the blaze amid air raid sirens.

“It got hotter and hotter in the cabin and I thought I wouldn’t survive,” said a dentist in her 40s. After escaping, she and other passengers said they were lucky to have survived in such a critical situation.

Passengers recall the dangerous area in the plane crash in Japan, photo 3 — The plane burned down, but fortunately no passengers were killed or seriously injured. Photo: Kyodo

Guy Maestre, originally from France, was on another plane nearby at the time of the incident. He said he heard a “big bang”.

“I was on another plane, sitting in a window seat. We were getting ready to take off when we heard a loud bang. We looked out the window and saw a huge streak of fire running down the runway,” Maestre, who was visiting Japan from Philadelphia, told CNN.

“The flames were getting higher and higher and then we saw fire trucks coming across the runway. I was hoping everyone would be safe,” he said, adding that “it was shocking to see that.”

The crew of Flight 516 was praised for their quick and calm response, which saved hundreds of lives. Japan Airlines said the crew used loudspeakers to direct passengers to safety after the in-flight announcement system malfunctioned.

Reports from inside the plane said flight attendants urged everyone to remain calm and within seconds of the plane coming to a stop, they deployed the emergency exits and evacuated passengers.

“It is too early to comment on the specifics of the incident, but what is clear is that the crew performed exemplary,” said Steven Erhlich, president of PilotsTogether, a charity set up during the pandemic to support the crew.

He cited the fact that passengers on the flight evacuated without carry-on luggage, which helped save lives. “Any delay in the evacuation could have been disastrous,” he said.

Hoang Anh (according to Kyodo, CNN, AP)

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