Japanese Firefighter Recalls Scene of 2024 Haneda Plane Crash, with Detailed Probe Still Ongoing

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:32 JST, January 3, 2026

A firefighter at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport spoke to a Yomiuri Shimbun reporter about the runway collision between a Japan Airlines and Japan Coast Guard aircraft two years ago. He recalled the emergency evacuation that saved all 379 passengers and crew members.

“Fire on Runway C!”

On the evening of Jan. 2, 2024, Shinnosuke Naruse, a 31-year-old member of the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry’s office at the airport, was conducting an inspection of a fire truck. Upon hearing the report from air traffic control, he downed tools and rushed to the scene of the fire.

At 5:47 p.m. that day, Japan Airlines Flight 516 — an Airbus A350 — was attempting to land when it collided with a Japan Coast Guard aircraft that was parked on Runway C. Five people aboard the JCG aircraft died, with the captain the lone survivor.

After the collision, the JAL aircraft proceeded 1,700 meters, finally moving onto the grass before coming to a stop. A fire broke out along the lower part of the fuselage, with flames also erupting from both engines.

What caught the eyes of Naruse immediately when he arrived at the scene was the JAL aircraft’s left engine, which was burning fiercely. With the flames spreading to the left wing, a number of passengers still remained inside the aircraft, although emergency evacuations were underway.

While spraying water from his vehicle, Naruse noticed some passengers who had escaped staying near the fuselage. Evacuation calls being made by megaphone were not reaching them.

Naruse instinctively left his vehicle and guided them — some worried about family members while others simply struck dumb by the situation — out of reach of the flames.

“I prioritized saving lives over putting out the fire,” he recalled. “I believe I fulfilled my duty.”

The JAL aircraft involved in the collision was a new model made using composite materials called Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics (CFRPs) in its main structures, including the fuselage and wings.

When CFRPs are turned to dust, they can pierce the skin and mucous membranes, potentially causing damage to the eyes and throat. However, Naruse said he and his colleagues were unaware of this risk at the time.

While no related health damage has been observed among the firefighters who tackled the blaze, the airport office has since revised its procedures and now requires masks and dust-proof suits to be warn during deployments. The transport ministry also plans to review equipment for airport firefighters across the country.

Making use of his experience, Naruse is telling his colleagues of the importance of constantly finding ways to act even one second faster.

Haneda Airport handles approximately 1,300 takeoffs and landings every day.

“We need to prepare for the unexpected, anticipating that anything could happen,” Naruse said.

Detailed probe ongoing

The Japan Transport Safety Board is conducting a detailed probe into how the evacuation of the 379 passengers and crew was conducted, with the purpose of making use of the findings to mitigate damage in future incidents.

Inside the JAL aircraft, emergency evacuations began four minutes after the collision. However, the in-flight announcement system had been put out of service and the four megaphones available inside the cabin failed to convey voices effectively, leaving it up to the cabin crew to communicate through their own voices alone.

Some passengers remained seated, as they couldn’t hear the instructions to evacuate. They were eventually guided to safety after the captain came to check for anyone left on board.

The safety board, in its second progress report released in December, revealed that it conducted an experiment in May to reconstruct the evacuation using the same model of aircraft.

Dozens of participants, including JAL cabin crew and safety board examiners, took part. The experiment was conducted to verify the effectiveness of verbal communication amid the chaos inside the cabin. The board is expected to include damage mitigation measures in its final report.