Plane explodes on runway

A CHINA Airlines jet exploded into flames at an airport in Japan after arriving from Taiwan yesterday, but all 165 people aboard escaped alive, officials said.

All 157 passengers — including two small children — fled the Boeing 737 on inflated emergency slides before the plane exploded, Transport Ministry official Akihiko Tamura said.

China Airlines spokesperson Sun Hung-Wen told reporters in Taipei that the aircraft skidded on the tarmac on its way from the runway to the gate after landing at the Okinawa airport, starting a fire that prompted the emergency exit.

The eight-member crew also safely left the plane, Sun said.

“The fire started when the first engine below the main left wing exploded,” Tamura said.

“After the plane landed, there were flames, and I heard explosions a few times then saw black smoke,” said airport worker Hideaki Oyadomari.

Japan’s National Police Agency said terrorism was not suspected. Some 450 people have died in China Airlines accidents during the 1990s.