Airbus dispatches specialists to help investigate aircraft collision in Japan

Paris, Jan 3: Airbus has said that a team of specialists was dispatched to assist relevant authorities in investigating an aircraft collision that involved one of its A-350 aircraft delivered to Japan Airlines.

Airbus said on Tuesday that it would provide technical assistance to the Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) of France and to the Japan Transport Safety Board (JTSB) in charge of the investigation, Xinhua news agency reported, citing a press release.

Five of the six crew members aboard a Japan Coast Guard aircraft that collided with a passenger plane at Tokyo's Haneda Airport on Tuesday were confirmed dead, while the captain who managed to escape earlier was severely injured, Japan's public broadcaster NHK reported.

Coast Guard spokesperson Yoshinori Yanagishima earlier confirmed the collision between the Japan Airlines aircraft and its flight MA-722, a Bombardier Dash-8, with both aircraft catching fire.

The Coast Guard plane was taxiing on the runway to transport relief goods for quake-hit areas in Niigata Prefecture after a series of temblors of up to 7.6 magnitude struck central Japan on Monday afternoon, according to the spokesperson.

Meanwhile, all 367 passengers and 12 crew members on board the Japan Airlines flight escaped from the airplane while it was on fire without life-threatening injuries after it collided with the smaller Coast Guard aircraft, the NHK reported.