What was the miraculous evacuation of the plane in Tokyo like?

Twelve crew members are credited with miraculously evacuating 367 passengers in minutes after two planes collided in Tokyo, thanks to their safety training and passenger discipline.

The Japanese authorities is investigating this Tuesday’s crash at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, one of the country’s busiest, after Japan Airlines (JAL) Airbus 350 coming from Sapporo (north of the country) collided with the plane Bombardier DHC8-300 of the coast guard that was on the runway.

This collision caused both planes to burst into flames, forcing the crew of the JAL commercial flight to evacuate as soon as possible as the fire reached the windows, the cabin temperature rose significantly and filled with thick white smoke that made visibility difficult.

According to the airline, flight attendants followed their safety training and took between 10 and 15 minutes to remove all passengers from the plane, including several crying children.

Some passengers described those moments of anxiety on social media and explained how the crew asked them to stay calm, stay put and cover their noses and mouths to avoid inhaling the smoke while opening the emergency doors.

In some cases, oxygen masks were deployed and some passengers started shouting and asking to be let out, while others asked for the crew to be heard and relayed their instructions to bystanders.

After the exits were opened and the emergency bridge installed, the passengers were allowed to leave and the crew asked them to get off the ship and within half an hour it was burning violently, exploding windows and doors.

These evacuation slides inflate automatically when the emergency exit is opened.

The miraculous evacuation was attributed to the urgent training of the crew, but also to the discipline of the passengers, in a country known for respecting the rules and caring for the collective before the individual.

JAL already experienced a similar situation in 1985, when one of its planes flying Tokyo-Osaka route It crashed into a mountain and left 520 dead among 524 passengers, an accident that prompted the company to increase safety training and awareness among its employees.

However, according to international standards, everyone on board should be able to exit the aircraft within 90 seconds under normal conditions.

In this Tuesday’s tragedy, 14 people were injured on the commercial plane, while of the six passengers on the Coast Guard plane, only the captain, who was seriously injured, managed to save his life.

Although the exact cause of the accident is still unknown, JAL plane cleared to enter the runway, the company said.

According to Japan’s state broadcaster NHK, an air traffic controller gave instructions to the airline’s plane. Japan Coast Guard so he went to a point before entering the runway, while other reports suggest that the captain of this ship was cleared to take off, so it all points to professional negligence.