14 Hongkongers on board Japan Airlines plane involved in fatal collision seek Immigration Department help
- Immigration Department says it has referred them to China’s embassy in Tokyo to receive all necessary help
- Several Haneda-Hong Kong flights delayed, cancelled or diverted in wake of deadly collision
Fourteen Hongkongers on board an airliner that caught fire following a collision with a coastguard aircraft at Tokyo’s Haneda airport are safe and have sought help from the Immigration Department.
The department on Wednesday said the residents’ calls for assistance it had received had been referred to the Chinese embassy in Tokyo and it would issue travel documents and provide all necessary assistance.
It would maintain close contact with the 14 residents, and their situation would also be followed by the Commissioner’s Office of China’s Foreign Ministry in Hong Kong, the relevant policy bureau, the Economic and Trade Office, the Travel Industry Authority, the Travel Industry Council and relevant airlines.
On Tuesday, a Japan Airlines jet carrying 379 passengers and 12 crew members burst into flames after it collided with a smaller plane on the runway following its landing.
All passengers on JAL flight 516 managed to escape unhurt, while five out of the six crew members on the coastguard plane died in the collision. The latter was bound for central Japan after Monday’s deadly earthquake.
Several flights between Haneda and Hong Kong have been delayed, cancelled or diverted in the wake of the fatal accident. Some Hongkongers, however, were returning to the city on Wednesday after being stranded at Tokyo’s airport.
