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China Airlines plane catches fire at Japan airport

By Xinhua

Tokyo : A passenger plane of China Airlines from Taiwan was destroyed Monday after it caught fire at Naha Airport of Okinawa prefecture in southern Japan, media reports said here.

None of the 155 passengers was injured as the fire broke out shortly after they got off the plane, according to airport officials.

Kyodo News quoted China Airlines officials saying that the fire broke out at around 10.30 a.m. from engine below one of the main wings of the Boeing 737.

TV footage showed that strong fire and thick smoke billowed from middle and rare of the plane before ten fire tenders and about a hundred firemen gathered to douse the flames.

The plane, the airlines’ flight 120, was almost totally destroyed and broke down to the ground. The cause of the fire is still unknown.

The plane took off from Taiwan’s capital and landed at Naha, the capital of Okinawa, at 10.27 a.m. (0127 GMT).