Plane wreckage being cleared from Tokyo airport after collision

Japanese workers began clearing burnt debris of a passenger jet on Friday, three days after a near terrible collision with a coast guard plane at Tokyo's Haneda Airport.

Five of the six crews on the smaller aircraft died in the incident on Tuesday but all 379 people on the Japan Airlines Airbus were evacuated just before it was buried in flames. A Japan Coast Guard spokeswoman said cleaning taskswere also underway to remove remains of its plane, which had been heading to deliver aid to earthquake-hit central Japan.

The evening collision saw a ball of fire and black smoke erupt underneath the JAL airliner as it sped down the runway after hitting the coast guard plane on the tarmac.