A Swedish teenager was on Japan Airlines Flight 516. This is his story.

Anton Deibe, 17, a high school student from Stockholm, was traveling to Japan with his family to celebrate his father’s 50th birthday. They were among the passengers on Japan Airlines Flight 516 when it collided with a Coast Guard plane on Tuesday.

All passengers and crew members of Anton’s plane escaped alive.

Because the plane’s map was in Japanese, which neither Anton nor his family understand, they couldn’t book seats together. Anton sat with his sister Ella, 15, a few rows at the back of the plane. Ella sat in the window seat. Their father, Jonas Deibe, sat about seven rows in front of them, and their mother, Kristin Deibe, sat two rows in front of them.

They followed a week of skiing in Niseko, Japan, with a week of sightseeing in Tokyo, where they were headed Tuesday evening when their plane caught fire.

“The flight went smoothly until we were almost there,” Anton said from a hotel in Tokyo on Wednesday. “We sat in the back left. Ella looked out the window. I looked at the entertainment screen and saw that there were three minutes left until arrival. Then I leaned over to put my jacket in my backpack.

“When I bent down, I felt it was extremely hot on the left side of my face. I looked to my left and saw fire and smoke outside all the windows on the left.

“Then the plane started shaking, as if there was strong turbulence. At the same time it became very hot inside and all the lights went out. It was pitch black. Even the emergency lights were not on. Only the light of the fire.”

He said he thought a bird had hit the plane, but didn’t know what happened. He said he felt the wheels bouncing on the runway. The plane stopped quickly, he said.

“Everyone started shouting in Japanese. I didn’t understand it,” he said. Still, “there was a lot less commotion than I thought. The passengers were calm. Everyone was of course worried and afraid.”

Anton said he later learned that the collision with the other plane took place exactly where he was sitting, due to the engine behind the wing.

“I had no idea we had crashed with another plane,” Anton said.

He said passengers could see smoke outside, “but then this smoke started creeping into the cabin. It smelled burnt and like chemicals.”

He said he used his hoodie to protect his nose and mouth.

“It felt like needles in your throat,” he said.

At that moment, Jonas Deibe had returned to an empty chair with his children. The flight attendants walked around the cabin with flashlights, Anton said.

“It became increasingly difficult to breathe,” Anton said. “It was terrible. We didn’t know what was going to happen. We just hoped that someone would open the emergency doors so we could jump out.”

A few minutes later, the emergency exit doors opened, Anton said.

“They were shouting in Japanese. We were all hunched over. I think people have been crawling. I think that’s what we had to do. People were creeping up behind me. I saw nothing in front of me. Everything happened so damn fast. Dad crouched down in front of me. I did the same. My sister was right behind me.” Their mother followed them.

Exiting the plane via the emergency slide was a challenge in itself.

“It was a long descent,” says Anton, who had hand surgery before the trip and wears a plaster cast on his right hand.

Once on the ground, the family ran out of the plane as fast as they could and reached a field of tall grass.

“We just kept running. We heard the engine still running and spitting fire, big flames, around the plane. We just wanted to get as far away as possible.”

Anton escaped with only the outfit he was wearing. But the family is safe and continues their journey to Japan.

“It was a terrible experience,” said Anton. “It felt unrealistic, like you were in a movie.”