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| Sunday, 14 August 2005 |
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Japan investigates falling debris TOKYO, Aug 13 (AFP) - Police and aviation authorities began an inquiry Saturday after at least two people were injured when metal fragments fell from a JALways aircraft when one of its engines burst into flames. The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 bound for Honolulu with 216 passengers and 13 crew members on board returned to Fukuoka Airport, some 890 kilometers (552 miles) west of Tokyo, shortly after takeoff late Friday. The pilot decided to fly back to the airport after one of its three engines backfired due to abnormal combustion, damaging a turbine blade, according to JALways, an affiliate of Japan Airlines (JAL). No passengers were injured, but at least two people, including a 13-year-old boy playing football near the airport, were injured after being struck by metal fragments from the blade, a JALways official said. One local resident said the windshield of his car was cracked by one of the fragments. Police said they were searching the area near the airport for further debris. The central government announced it had set up a special office of experts from the Land and Transport Ministry to investigate the incident. Television footage showed the engine being engulfed by fire which then spread to part of the left wing before burning out. It happened just hours after JAL president Toshiyuki Shimmachi pledged to ensure flight safety to commemorate the 20th anniversary of a JAL crash that killed 520 people on August 12, 1985, in the world's worst air disaster involving a single airplane. |
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