An earthquake relief plane and a Japan Airlines jet collided at the Haneda airport in Tokyo, causing the Japan Airlines jet to burst into flames.

During landing at Tokyo's Haneda Airport, a Japan Airlines flight collided with a Japan Coast Guard aircraft, causing it to catch fire on Tuesday.

A plane belonging to Japan Airlines that was carrying hundreds of passengers was involved in a collision with an earthquake relief aircraft and exploded into flames while landing at the Haneda airport in Tokyo on Tuesday. Five out of the six crew members of the Coast Guard aircraft that was fixed-wing have been  declared deceased.

Despite the fact that all 379 passengers on JAL flight 516, including eight children under the age of two, were safely evacuated from the passenger plane, the airline said that there were fatalities aboard the second aircraft, which was operated by the Japan Coast Guard.

The purpose of the Coast Guard aircraft, an MA722, was to deliver supplies to a base in Niigata Prefecture in order to aid the regions impacted by Monday's strong earthquake that slammed western Japan.

It was 5:46 p.m. local time (3:46 a.m. Eastern Time) when the Airbus A350-900 aircraft caught fire after it had arrived at Haneda Airport from the city of Sapporo, which is located in northern Japan. When the jet caught fire, a massive fireball was seen erupting from the aircraft, sending a trail of flames down the runway.

The tragedy highlights the terrible start to 2024 for the people of Japan, who are still recovering after a massive 7.5-magnitude earthquake that devastated the country's Ishikawa Prefecture on Monday. Up until Tuesday, there were at least 155 additional aftershocks.

The earthquake has claimed at least 48 lives. The Ishikawa Prefecture's Noto Peninsula is most severely affected.