A total of 42 people on board a Japan Airlines Boeing 747 jumbo jet were injured yesterday when the pilot swerved to avoid a mid-air collision with an aircraft on a flight from South Korea, a transport ministry official said.
Two of the injured were in a serious condition, according to the Tokyo Fire Department. The two passenger jets, which were carrying 677 people, escaped collision by just 10 metres, the Jiji Press news agency reported.
"The plane descended steeply after swaying from side to side. I thought we would crash," a woman passenger told NHK public television.
Jiji Press said one suspected cause of the incident is that incorrect orders were given to the aircraft by a trainee air traffic controller who was in charge.
Immediate confirmation of the report was not available.
Some media reports said three women were badly hurt and could not walk without assistance.
Fire department officials said at least 18 women, including a 35-year-old flight attendant who was severely injured, were taken to hospitals.
Japan Airlines flight 907, with 411 passengers and 16 crew on board, was en route to Naha on Japan's southernmost island of Okinawa when the near-miss occurred. The pilot returned to Tokyo's Haneda domestic airport to allow the injured to be treated.
One passenger on flight 907 described how people were lifted out of their seats by the force of the plane's descent, hitting the ceiling of the cabin.
Another passenger, a middleaged man, told Fuji Television Network he saw another aircraft ascending fast while his aircraft descended suddenly.
Aviation authorities identified the other aircraft as Japan Airlines flight 958 bound for Tokyo's Narita international airport from Pusan in South Korea.
But a Transport Ministry official quoted the pilot of the other aircraft as saying he was not aware of the near-miss.
The Japan Airlines vice-president, Mr Yasushi Yuasa, apologised to those who sustained injuries.
"It is truly regrettable that many people were injured," he told a news conference yesterday evening.
The incident took place about 180 km south-west of Tokyo.
In Japan's worst aircraft disaster, a Japan Airlines Boeing 747 jumbo jet crashed into mountains to the north-east of Tokyo, killing all but four of the 524 people aboard on August 12th, 1985.