An aerial view on Jan. 3 of the runway where a Japan Airlines passenger jet and a Japan Coast Guard plane collided the previous day at Haneda Airport in Tokyo. (Masahiro Hirano)

Photo/Illutration The wreckage of a Japan Coast Guard plane that collided with a Japan Airlines passenger jet remains on a runway at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Jan. 4. (Jin Nishioka)

A Japan Coast Guard captain may have been unaware that his airplane was hit by a Japan Airlines passenger jet landing at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Jan. 2, investigative sources said.

While being taken to a hospital after the fiery accident, the captain told Tokyo police that “the back of (the Coast Guard plane) suddenly caught fire,” the sources told The Asahi Shimbun.

The injured captain also said he “didn’t know” about the accident, the sources said.

The pilot was quoted as saying to the Haneda Air Base from his cellphone immediately after the collision: “The aircraft exploded on the runway. I escaped. I don’t know about the other crew members.”

The accident occurred at around 5:47 p.m. on Jan. 2, when the JAL aircraft attempted to land on Runway C at the airport and collided with the Coast Guard plane. Both aircraft caught on fire.

Five people on the Coast Guard plane were killed. The captain was hospitalized with burns.

The wreckage of the Coast Guard plane, a Bombardier DHC8, remained at the center of the runway.

The JAL plane, an Airbus A350, traveled a kilometer along the side of the runway before it stopped.

All passengers and crew members escaped from the plane before it burned to the ground.

The Metropolitan Police Department and other authorities are investigating why the Coast Guard airplane was on the runway.

The Coast Guard believes the pilot was unaware of the approaching JAL jet.

The Coast Guard said earlier that the pilot had explained that he “obtained permission to enter the runway and then entered the runway.”

But based on communication records between air-traffic controllers and the two aircraft released by the transport ministry on Jan. 3, the JAL aircraft was given permission to land.

“As far as we can see from the records, no permission was given to the Coast Guard aircraft to enter the runway,” a ministry official said.

Tokyo police are investigating the accident as a case of professional negligence resulting in death or injury.

They started inspecting the scene of the accident on Jan. 3, and have been interviewing the Coast Guard pilot as well as JAL passengers.

(This article was written by Yuji Masuyama, Minami Endo and Shomei Nagatsuma.)

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