Quake rescuers killed in plane crash fireball horror

FIVE earthquake rescuers died when their plane collided with an airliner carrying 379 people at Japan's busiest airport.

- Giles Sheldrick

 

Hours earlier a 7.6-magnitude New Year's Day tremor on the west coast killed at least 48 and wrecked thousands of buildings.

The coastguard plane and an arriving Japan Airlines A350 collided at Tokyo's Haneda International, triggering a fireball before the wide-bodied jet broke in two.

Footage showed flames engulfing the aircraft as 367 passengers including eight children and 12 crew scrambled off Flight 516 and along the runway to safety.

Transport minister Tetsuo Šaito said that only the pilot had survived out of six people on board the far smaller, propeller-driven Bombardier Dash-8 coastguard plane.