Two crew members have been killed after a FedEx cargo plane crashed and burst into flames as it landed at Narita International Airport in Tokyo.
Both crew members were US citizens.
They were reportedly the only two people on board the McDonnell Douglas MD-11, which was flying from Guangzhou in southern China.
It is the first fatal accident at Narita, Japan's biggest airport, and the country's first since 1996, when three people died in a Garuda Indonesia accident at Fukuoka Airport.
Strong gusts were reported at the time and local meteorological services had warned airlines of wind shear, a dangerous condition for planes coming in to land.
Television footage showed FedEx Flight 80 touching down about 6.50am (9.50pm Irish time) and the aircraft's nose slamming into the runway before the plane sharply bounced onto its left wing.
The jet exploded and skidded at high speed while spewing a large plume of black smoke before flipping onto its left side and coming to a halt off the side of the runway.
Airport officials said the accident is causing flight cancellations and delays, and said scores of flights have been diverted elsewhere, including to Haneda airport, closer to Tokyo.
