Memorial Ceremony Held ahead of 1-Year Anniversary of Fatal Collision at Haneda Airport; ‘Your Precious Sacrifice Won’t Be in Vain’

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:05 JST, December 23, 2024

A memorial ceremony was held at the Japan Coast Guard’s Haneda Air Base in Tokyo on Monday ahead of the one-year anniversary of a fatal collision between a JCG aircraft and a Japan Airlines plane on Jan. 2 at Haneda Airport.

About 70 attendees at the ceremony mourned the five JCG members who lost their lives in the collision while on their way to support the areas hit by the Noto Peninsula Earthquake, which occurred on Jan. 1. The attendees also renewed their pledge to prevent a recurrence of the incident.

Those in attendance lined up in the aircraft hangar and observed a moment of silence. Following that, a eulogy was given by Shinji Miyamoto, head of the Third Regional Coast Guard Headquarters in Yokohama, which oversees the Haneda base.

“We will never forget this sadness,” Miyamoto said. “We promise to continue making tireless efforts to turn this place into the world’s safest [air base], without letting your precious sacrifice be in vain.”

On Jan. 2, JAL Flight 516, which departed New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido, and the JCG aircraft Mizunagi 1, which was carrying relief supplies for the disaster-hit areas, collided on Runway C and caught fire. All 379 passengers and crew members on the JAL airplane managed to escape, but five crew members on the JCG aircraft died, with the captain, 40, the only survivor.