2 planes collide on airport runway in Japan

ISTANBUL

Two planes collided on an airport runway in Japan on Tuesday, in the second such incident this month.

The planes belonged to Korean Air and Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific and the incident occurred at New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido at around 0830GMT.

Korean Air said its KE766 plane "came into contact with a Cathay Pacific aircraft during pushback" at New Chitose Airport.

The flight was set to depart for Seoul.

"There were no injuries and the airline is cooperating with all relevant authorities," it said in a brief statement on X.

Media reports suggest that the planes “came in contact” when a towing car, which was pushing the Korean Air plane backward, slipped due to snow on the ground.

Cathay Pacific said that its plane CX583 was "on the ground" when the incident happened and had no passenger on board as reported earlier.

It canceled its Tuesday flight from Sapporo in Hokkaido to Hong Kong.

Earlier this month, at least five crew members were killed when a Japan Coast Guard aircraft and a Japan Airlines passenger plane collided at Tokyo airport.