KUALA LUMPUR: No Malaysians were involved in the plane collision accident at Haneda Airport, Japan, yesterday.
This was confirmed by an officer from the Malaysian Embassy in Tokyo.
Japan's transportation authorities have begun investigating the cause of the accident involving the Japan Airlines plane (JAL 516) and a Japanese Coast Guard (JCG) aircraft on Jan 2.
Five people on the Coast Guard aircraft died, but all 379 passengers and crew escaped to safety down emergency slides minutes before the Japan Airlines Airbus was engulfed in flames late Tuesday.
The pilot of the Bombardier DHC8-300 Coast Guard aircraft was able to escape but with severe injuries.
Footage on Tuesday showed a ball of fire erupted and thick black smoke from underneath the airliner shortly after landing and coming to a halt on its nose after its front landing gear failed.
The inferno on the JAL aircraft was brought under control more than eight hours after the collision.
The Coast Guard said the collision involved one of its planes heading to Niigata airport on Japan's west coast to deliver aid to those caught in a powerful earthquake that struck on New Year's Day.
It is learned that the A350-900 was only two years old, according to Airbus.