Jet drops metal fragments on Japanese homes
A Japan Airlines jet rained parts on a city shortly after take-off from Nagoya Airport today, damaging a nearby factory and hitting houses and a car parked at a gasoline station, Japanese police said.
Police in nearby Komaki city said they heard a loud bang just after the plane took off.
Afterward, about 20 to 30 metal fragments the size of a pencil eraser fell onto the factory and homes and one broke the windscreen of a car, said police spokesman Hisashi Hashiguchi.
There were no reports of injuries, he said.
But Takafumi Oshima, who works at the factory, told national broadcaster NHK that he burned his hand on one of the fragments when he tried to pick it up.
The DC-10 plane bound for Bangkok returned to Nagoya Airport because of trouble with an engine attached to its starboard wing shortly after taking off at 11.05am (3.05am Irish time), said JAL spokesman Takeshi Suzuki.
None of the plane’s 200 passengers and crew were injured, he said. He was unable to provide further details.
Transport ministry officials said they are investigating the cause of the incident.
Nagoya is located in central Japan about 168 miles west of Tokyo.
