Plane catches fire on runway at Japan's Haneda airport, passengers reportedly safe
Tokyo (AP): A plane burst into flames on the runway of Tokyo's Haneda airport on Tuesday, with news reports saying it hit another aircraft after landing.
NHK TV reported that all passengers aboard, believed to have been about 400 people, got out safely.
Local TV video showed a large eruption of fire and smoke from the side of the Japan Airlines plane as it taxied on a runway. The area around the wing then caught fire.
It said the plane was JAL flight 516 had flown out of Shin Chitose airport in Japan to Haneda.
Later video showed fire crews working to put out the fire with streams of water. The flames had spread to much of the plane.
NHK quoted JAL as saying it believed its plane was hit by another aircraft, possibly a Japan Coast Guard plane.
Japan's Coast Guard said it is checking reports about a collision between its aircraft and the JAL flight on fire. It had no further details.
Haneda is one of the busiest airports in Japan, and many people travel over the New Year holidays.
BREAKING: Plane on fire on Tokyo International Airport's runway in Japan pic.twitter.com/qicUUczyip
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Dalit outfits call state-wide hartal over dental student’s death
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): Various Dalit organisations on Monday announced a state-wide hartal seeking justice in the death of Kannur Dental College student Nithin Raj.
The hartal will be observed on Tuesday from 6 am to 6 pm.
As many as 52 Dalit organisations, including Justice for Nithin Raj Action Council, have announced the strike.
Organisations requesting cooperation for the strike said that no vehicles will be forcibly stopped and that all essential services are exempted.
Raj, a first-year BDS student at a private dental college in Anjarakkandy in Kannur district, was found critically injured after falling from a building on April 10 and later succumbed to his injuries.
Police have registered a case against two faculty members on charges of abetment of suicide and under provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, following allegations by the student’s family that he was subjected to caste- and complexion-based harassment.
Kerala Pinnokka Samudaya Munnani (KPSM), one of the organisations supporting the hartal, alleged in a statement that police had shown apathy in the investigation and were attempting to protect the accused in the case.
KPSM state president K V Padmanabhan and general secretary S Anwar alleged that the probe into Raj’s death was being deliberately misdirected and delayed.
While the family has firmly alleged that caste discrimination and mental harassment by faculty members led to the student’s death, police were attempting to divert the investigation towards loan app borrowings, they claimed.
The organisation alleged that this was a planned move to shield the real accused.
KPSM further alleged that by deliberately delaying the arrest of the accused teachers, police enabled them to secure anticipatory bail.
They said there was no confidence in the present police investigation and demanded that the case be handed over to an independent agency at the earliest.
