JAL exhibits items from 1985 jumbo disaster

Tag : Print Items

Japan Airlines on Monday began exhibiting 17 items found at thecrash site of history's worst single airplane disaster.
The Aug. 12, 1985, crash of a JAL jumbo jet killed 520 passengersand crew members.
The items, displayed at the airline's Safety Promotion Center nearthe Tokyo International Airport in Haneda, include crushedspectacle frames, bent ball-point pens and watches that stoppedworking around 6:56 p.m., the time the aircraft plowed into amountainous area of Gunma Prefecture, killing all but four people.
JAL set up the display in response to requests from bereavedfamilies.
The owners of some 2,700 items collected from the crash site inUeno village are not known. JAL initially planned to incinerate theassortment of personal possessions and dedicate the ashes to amemorial facility.
However, the airline canceled the plan after bereaved familiesexpressed opposition.
In April 2006, JAL opened the Safety Promotion Center to helpheighten safety awareness among its employees. The center displayednot only the aircraft wreckage, including a rear pressure bulkhead,which is said to have caused the disaster, but also handwrittenwills composed by some of the victims in the final minutes ofFlight 123, which was en route from Tokyo to Osaka when it wentdown.
JAL's decision to set up the center apparently reflected a changeof policy. Instead of trying to put the disaster behind it, theairline decided that it must never forget what happened, accordingto industry insiders.
The 17 items put on display Monday comprise five watches, threespectacle frames, three keys, two ball-point pens, an electroniccalculator and three camera lenses.
JAL said it chose the items to illustrate the impact of the crash.
As for the remaining personal possessions, the airline isconsidering photographing them to create a database that visitorsto the center can access on computers.
The 17 items will be shown only to bereaved families untilWednesday. They will go on public display from Monday.
Tuesday marked the 23rd anniversary of the disaster.
Several hundred bereaved family members braved humid conditions toreach the crash site, called Osutaka Ridge, to offer prayers to thevictims in front of a memorial monument.(IHT/Asahi: August 12,2008)