At least five coast guard crew died while all 379 passengers from a Japan Airlines plane were rescued after a collision between two aircraft caused an explosion at Tokyo's Haneda airport on Tuesday.

Flight 516, a commercial plane from Hokkaido in northern Japan, caught fire on the runway and eventually burnt out completely.

There were 367 passengers and 12 crew members on board, who were all able to leave the aircraft, the Japanese Airlines authorities said.

According to the television station TBS, the coastguard aircraft was transporting material to the earthquake zone on the west coast of the country. At least 48 people have died in a series of earthquakes there since New Year's Day.

Images from TBS showed the passengers of the commercial aircraft leaving via an emergency slide while firefighting operations were being carried out. An explosive fireball could later be seen.

Earlier, images on state broadcaster NHK showed the plane moving briskly along the runway before an explosion of orange flames burst from beneath it.

The television footage showed flames coming out of the windows and the plane's nose on the ground as rescue workers sprayed it.

There was also burning debris on the runway.

Haneda has closed all runways following the incident, a spokesperson for the airport said.