'Miracle we survived': Japan Airlines fire survivors recall escape

Passengers on the Japan Airlines flight that collided with a Japan Coast Guard aircraft at Tokyo's Haneda Airport on Tuesday recounted their harrowing escape from the burning jetliner. All 367 passengers and all 12 crew members escaped alive from the JAL plane, which had left New Chitose Airport on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido earlier that day. Five of the six crew members on the coast guard plane were killed, while its captain remains in serious condition. "I bounced off my seat from the impact when we landed," a 28-year-old man returning from a trip to Hokkaido said. "We made it just in the nick of time. It's a miracle we survived." Soon after landing, the passenger saw from the window that the plane was on fire. Smoke filled the cabin, making it hard to see. "It became hot, like we were inside a sauna, and my throat burned whenever I breathed in," the man said. Passengers said cabin crew members repeatedly urged them over the intercom to stay calm, stay put, and cover their noses and mouths. Oxygen masks above some seats were released. Before the emergency exit was opened, passengers could be heard panicking, with shouts of "Get us out of here!" and "We should listen to the crew!" filling the cabin. Some passengers were seen relaying instructions from the crew to those around them. Once on the ground via evacuation slide, the crew members instructed passengers to get away from the aircraft, and a loud explosion was heard soon after. The fire spread quickly, and within half an hour the entire aircraft was ablaze, with flames shooting from windows and doors. A 59-year-old man who had been visiting his family home in Sapporo said calmly: "I think everyone was able to escape in about five minutes." A man in his 30s from Saitama prefecture said: "I just couldn't understand what was happening."<br/>