(Bloomberg) -- Miscommunication between air traffic control and a coast guard plane may have led to the fatal crash on Jan. 2 at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, the Yomiuri newspaper reported, citing unidentified sources.

The control tower told the coast guard plane that it was “number one,” which may been taken as a sign that it could enter the runway, rather than the order of departure, according to the newspaper.

Details continue to emerge as the transport ministry investigates what led to the incident, and whether it could have prevented. Flight and voice recording devices recovered from the crash site late last week could untangle seemingly contradictory pieces of evidence, namely the coast guard captain’s claim that he was given permission to enter the runway despite an official transcript that may suggest otherwise.

Flights operations resumed Monday at Haneda’s Runway C, where, a week earlier, a landing passenger jet crashed into a parked coast guard plane. All 379 passengers and crew aboard Japan Airlines Co.’s Airbus SE A350-900 were evacuated Tuesday evening within minutes of impact, although 14 were injured and 2 pets didn’t survive. Five of the six crew on the Japan Coast Guard’s De Havilland Canada Dash 8 were killed.

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.