A plane set to convey coronavirus medical supplies and a patient has crashed during takeoff at Minila International Airport in the Philippines.
The aircraft which was headed for Haneda, Japan crashed and killed all the eight people on board, on Sunday evening.
Footage from the crash scene showed huge flames as emergency services scrambled. Pictures later emerged of the burnt-out wreckage after firefighters got the blaze under control.
Cases of coronavirus in Japan, where the plane was destined, have spiked in the last few days as the government held off placing the country on lockdown.
Tokyo governor, Yuriko Koike, had warned that the capital was entering “an important phase in preventing an explosive rise in the number of infections.”
He asked the 14 million people living in the city to stay at home over the weekend.
Japan’s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, also warned the country was getting closer to a national emergency.
He promised an unprecedented package to protect the world’s third-biggest economy from collapse.
A statement from the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) on the plane crash reads:
“The flight, which was on a med-evac mission to Haneda, Japan, was carrying two passengers and six crew members.
Unfortunately, no passenger survived the accident.”
