By Yuki Yamaguchi,
When flames rose from outside the window and smoke started to fill the cabin, the possibility of death flickered across the minds of many of the 367 passengers on Japan Airlines' flight 516, who all escaped a near-fatal catastrophe.
The chaotic scenes of what has been dubbed a "miraculous escape" have become clearer as passengers have spoken more about their experiences and offered a trove of smartphone images in the 10 days since the runway collision between an Airbus A350 jetliner and a Japan Coast Guard plane at Haneda airport in Tokyo.
"It's going to be fine. Please calm down," flight attendants repeatedly called out to panicking passengers, seen in footage of the scene recorded on people's smartphones. "Don't take your luggage with you. Crouch low and cover your nose and mouth."
The doors did not open immediately after the plane came to a halt on the runway because the cabin crew was examining the situation outside to determine where emergency slides could be deployed safely.
"Do as the cabin crew told you to. It's going to be all right," one of the passengers said in a raised voice, in an apparent attempt to soothe tensions in the cabin and help the crew focus on their duties.
Soon, emergency doors at the front opened. "To the front!" one of the cabin attendants shouted. "Don't take your luggage," another passenger yelled, which was then echoed by someone else.
The successful evacuation of all 379 passengers and crew on the burning JAL jetliner was widely praised as "a miracle," with the media giving particular credit to the cabin crew's professionalism and composure.
But recent TV footage of clips recorded by some on the flight and the account given by the airline show it was a joint effort by well-trained staff and cooperative passengers, who were willing to give up their belongings and join forces with the crew to defuse panic and expedite a smooth escape.
"Customer cooperation was a huge part of the successful evacuation," said Izumi Egami, a former cabin attendant at JAL who is now a visiting professor at the University of Tsukuba.
Citing footage of some passengers cheering up other passengers and repeating the crew's instructions, she said they successfully created an atmosphere where it felt crucial for everybody to follow their orders to survive.
"We always ask passengers to leave their luggage at the time of an emergency," a JAL official said at a press conference. "Customers really adhered to the principle this time."
Of the 367 passengers, 43 were foreign nationals, JAL said, adding they also readily followed the company's instructions and evacuated with no problems.
The spirit of mutual assistance also drew positive responses from foreign visitors to Japan.
"Everybody survived on the JAL plane. It's very possible that that may not have happened if it was America or a Western country because everybody would be trying to grab luggage," Justin Quitadamo, 40, who was visiting Japan from the U.S. state of Idaho, said at Haneda airport.
"Japanese people...follow instructions and they consider people around them," he said. "Every time I come here, everything is very orderly" as exemplified by people waiting in line for public transportation.
"I think those characteristics of Japanese culture contributed to the safety of every single one of those people getting off the airplane," he added.
Chase Williams, a 35-year-old traveling from Cambodia, said, "They weren't trying to get their stuff off. Passengers were being selfless."
Passengers taking carry-on luggage with them in evacuations has proven deadly in past airplane emergencies.
In May 2019, over 40 people died following an Aeroflot plane's emergency landing at an airport near Moscow. Interfax news agency said at the time the evacuation was delayed by some passengers trying to collect their baggage, which led to large casualties.
Over 20 people were injured while escaping from a burning United Airlines plane at Narita airport in Japan in May 1998, with some blaming their injuries on other passengers who had tried to bring their luggage with them during the evacuation.
"It would be an overgeneralization to say it's Japanese people's characteristics, but I think there is an overall tendency among them to accept a view that maintaining order is necessary for smooth evacuations," said Kazuki Sugiura, an air transport analyst and guest professor at Tokyo Metropolitan University.
In the Jan. 2 collision, five of the six crew members aboard the smaller coast guard plane died. They were delivering relief supplies for central Japan areas affected by a powerful earthquake that occurred the previous day.
Related coverage:
Crew's quick decisions behind safe escape from burning JAL plane
JAL jet passengers recount 18 minutes of terror while awaiting escape
JAL pilots did not see coast guard plane when touching down
