Holidaymakers slid down emergency chutes with moments to spare before their Taiwanese airliner exploded and caught fire on Monday, a few minutes after the jet landed on Japan's southern resort island of Okinawa.
The left engine of a Boeing 737-800 jet belonging to Taiwan-based China Airlines exploded shortly after arrival in Naha city from Taipei, ripping the plane apart, officials and witnesses said, but all 165 passengers and crew escaped safely.
"I saw several passengers evacuate from the plane using a chute. After a minute or so, I heard the sound of an explosion. It was a big explosion," said Tadahiro Hasuo, who told NHK he felt the heat of the blast while passing Naha airport in a taxi.
Video shot by a witness and broadcast on TV showed passengers sliding down two chutes on the right side of the plane, while flames and thick black smoke billowed from the left.
After the flames were extinguished, the charred remains of the plane lay broken on the tarmac near the terminal. The nose of the plane sagged on its side, while the tail - emblazoned with the airline's pink plum blossom symbol - was intact at the other end. In between, the blackened remains of the interior could be seen, with much of the roof of the plane gone. Early investigations in Naha, the capital of Okinawa, raised the possibility that leaking fuel may have caught fire.
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