The prime minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, is holding a news conference.

He confirms there was a collision between a passenger aircraft and a coast guard aircraft, and that five of those on board the latter have died.

“It is a very disappointing and saddening situation,” he says, adding his “heartfelt condolences”.

He says he would like “to express my heartfelt gratitude for the efforts” to evacuate the passenger plane, he says.

Officials trying to reopen airport – as cause of collision unknown

Japan’s minister of land, transport and infrastructure, Tetsuo Saito, is providing an update on the incident.

“I’m sure that the people of Japan will have concerns in regards to this accident,” he says.

He explains a Japan Airlines flight 516 collided on runway C at Haneda Airport with the coast guard aircraft.

There were 379 people – including crew – on board the passenger aircraft who have all been safely evacuated from the plane.

He confirms the captain of the coast guard plane escaped, but is injured.

That aircraft was supposed to deliver humanitarian aid, he says.

“The root cause of this accident is not known yet.”

Officials are attempting to secure the disaster area while “trying to reopen the remainder of the airport”, he says.

He says [they] are “trying our best to try and resume operations from tomorrow onwards, back to normal timetable”.

Runways A, B and D could possibly be reopened today, but should be running “by tomorrow at the latest”, he adds.

‘Chain of failures’ likely led to collision

A “chain of failures” more likely led to the incident than a single mistake, according to a former head of air safety at British Airways.

John Lindsay told Sky News mistakes may have been made in communications or identifying signs on the runway – but added there is no evidence as to what happened just yet.

Night time conditions may also have been a factor because a member of either crew may have identified the danger had their been better visibility, he said.

“These events don’t tend to happen just because of a single error,” said Mr Lindsay, adding such they were usually the result of “a chain of failures rather than one single cause”.

“The impact, judging by your video footage, was the touchdown zone on the runway.”

The crew kept the passenger plane “on the runway very successfully” and the evacuation was “conducted in almost an exemplary fashion”, given no-one lost their lives on that aircraft.

‘I felt a boom like we had hit something’

A passenger on board the Japan Airlines flight has described the moment their plane collided with another aircraft. 

“I felt a boom like we had hit something and jerked upward the moment we landed,” the unnamed passenger told Kyodo news agency. 

“I saw sparks outside the window and the cabin filled with gas and smoke.”