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Korean Air plane bumps parked Cathay Pacific aircraft at a Japanese airport but no injuries

TOKYO (AP) — A Korean Air plane carrying 289 people hit a parked Cathay Pacific aircraft while taxiing to a runway at northern Japan’s New Chitose Airport but caused no fire or injuries Tuesday, a local fire department said.

The incident happened only two weeks after a high profile collision between a Japan Airlines airliner and a coast guard plane on a runway at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. Airline passengers had to make an emergency exit due to a fire and five of the six crew members on the smaller plane were killed.

On Tuesday, the KAL plane had just started moving away from its parking spot to head to a runway for takeout when it bumped into the empty Cathay Pacific plane parked next to it, according to the Chitose City Fire Department.

None of the KAL plane’s 276 passengers and 13 crew members were injured, and no fire or fuel leaks were detected, the fire department said. It said the main left wing of the KAL airliner came into contact with the vertical stabilizer of the Cathay Pacific plane.

No other details, including the extent of the damage to the aircraft or what caused the taxiing aircraft to hit the parked one, were immediately available.

Transportation officials are investigating the cause of the fatal Haneda Airport collision, focusing on the communication between air traffic controllers and the two planes.

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