Taiwan jet explodes at Japan airport; all safe

TOKYO, Aug 20 (Reuters) A plane belonging to Taiwan's China Airlines Ltd exploded and caught fire soon after landing on Japan's southern island of Okinawa today, but officials said all 165 people on board had escaped safely.

The Boeing 737-800 plane, which had just arrived from Taipei, was already being evacuated when the left engine exploded, ripping the plane apart, officials and witnesses said.

''I saw several passengers evacuate from the plane using a chute.

After a minute or so, I heard the sound of an explosion. It was a big explosion,'' said Tadahiro Hasuo, who told NHK he felt the heat of the blast while passing the airport in a taxi.

The charred remains of the plane lay broken on the tarmac near the terminal after the flames were extinguished, an hour after the explosion.

The nose of the plane sagged on its side, while the tail -- emblazoned with the airline's pink plum blossom symbol -- was intact at the other end.

In between, the blackened remains of the interior could be seen, with much of the roof of the plane gone.

Early investigations raised the possibility that leaking fuel may have caught fire.

''We don't have any information that suggests the accident was linked to terrorism. There is a possibility of the engine exploding and catching fire due to a fuel leak,'' a Naha airport police official told Reuters.

One member of the ground crew had been injured, Kyodo news agency reported.

The aircraft's engine was made by CFM International, a joint venture between General Electric Co and Safran unit Snecma, a Japanese Transport Ministry official said.

But he said it was not clear whether the engine itself was to blame for the accident.

The airline said the plane, which had 157 passengers and eight crew, had just undergone scheduled maintenance.

''Everything was working according to normal procedure. There was nothing wrong during the flight,'' China Airlines spokesman Johnson Sun told reporters.

China Airlines has a troubled safety record with four deadly accidents in the past 13 years, including a crash in the Japanese city of Nagoya in 1994 in which 264 people were killed.

Okinawa is a popular spot for beach holidays and the number of visitors to Japan from other parts of Asia has increased in recent years, with the lifting of visa restrictions.

REUTERS SW SSC1217