A plane belonging to Taiwan's China Airlines exploded and caught fire soon after landing on Japan's southern island of Okinawa this morning.
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.
Early investigations raised the possibility that leaking fuel may have caught fire.
The airline said the plane, which had 157 passengers and eight crew, had just undergone scheduled maintenance.
China Airlines has suffered 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.
Initial reports from ground personnel showed that a fuel leak from the right engine could have led to a series of explosions, according to another ministry official, Fumio Yasukawa.
The fire was put out about an hour after it started, leaving the aircraft charred and mangled.
Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration head Chang Kuo-cheng said authorities ordered China Airlines and its subsidiary Mandarin Airlines to ground their 13 other Boeing 737-800s pending a thorough inspection.
Japanese aviation authorities also ordered an emergency inspection of all Boeing 737-800 planes owned by Japanese airlines, as well as some 737-700 models that carry a similar engine.
The Okinawa fire is a setback to China Airlines, which in recent years appeared to have improved on a troubled safety record.
A China Airlines 747 crashed in 2002 as it flew from Taipei to Hong Kong, leading to 225 deaths, and some 450 people died in China Airlines accidents during the 1990s.
"We are prepared to do our best to get to the bottom of this incident," China Airlines president Zhao Guo-shi told reporters at a press conference at Naha airport tonight. "I apologise for the trouble we have caused our passengers."
PA