Kansai airport runways fully reopen after United plane's emergency landing
Kansai International Airport in western Japan fully reopened its runways early Saturday after a United Airlines plane made an emergency landing due to a cargo hold fire alert, Kyodo reports.
The U.S. airline told Kyodo News that an initial inspection found "no indication a fire occurred" on the Boeing 737, adding it is working with Japanese aviation authorities on their investigation into the incident.
The Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has recognized the case as a serious incident requiring investigation. A local fire department also said no fire had occurred on the plane.
United Flight 32, which was originally headed for Cebu in the Philippines from Narita near Tokyo, made the emergency landing at around 7:10 p.m. Friday at the airport in Osaka Prefecture. All 142 passengers and crew evacuated by emergency slides.
Five people suffered non-life-threatening injuries, according to local firefighters.
The airport closed its two runways following the emergency landing. One of the runways was reopened about an hour after the incident and the remaining runway reopened at around 2:30 a.m.
United readied an aircraft so that the passengers aboard the affected flight could continue their trip to Cebu, which left the airport Saturday morning.
The runway closure caused the cancellation of two departing flights on Friday, while four arriving flights were diverted and another returned to Narita, according to the airport operator.
As written before, two killed as light plane crashes in Akmola region.
