Crews at Tokyo's Haneda Airport - the world's third busiest - have begun clearing the remains of Japan Airlines (JAL) Flight 516 from one of its runways on Friday (Jan. 5) as investigators are still looking for the black boxes to discover the cause of the deadly collision of the Airbus A350 and a Japanese Coast Guard aircraft.
All passengers and crew of the JAL plane safely evacuated and were accounted for, while five of the six aboard the Coast Guard plane died upon impact.
Officials from the Japan Transport Safety Board (JTSB) said that they have already retrieved the flight data recorder of the JAL plane but are still looking for the cockpit voice recorder. Meanwhile, both recorders from the Coast Guard plane have been recovered, according to Reuters.
Haneda to Fully Reopen Next Week
Previously, Haneda was closed to air traffic in the immediate aftermath of the collision. However, three of the four runways unaffected by the inferno were reopened shortly after.
Officials aim to complete the wreckage removal on the runway by Sunday (Jan. 7) to continue the investigation in a nearby hangar, as per Japanese broadcaster TBS. It is expected that the runway where the accident happened will be reopened on Jan. 8 if clearance operations go as planned, according to Japanese Transport Minister Tetsuo Saito.
Besides the investigation into the crash by transport authorities, Tokyo police were looking into possible professional negligence contributing to the accident, especially the captain of the Coast Guard aircraft - the sole survivor of the six-man flight crew.
