Passengers on a China Airlines plane that caught fire at the Okinawa airport criticized the flight crew on August 23, saying they gave unclear evacuation instructions that could have caused potentially fatal delays.

But China Airlines defended its crew's reactions. "If the crew hadn't been on the ball and the clients hadn't cooperated, then the result could have been different," said Chen Peng-yu, the airline's assistant publicity vice president.

According to many in a group of about 30 passengers who returned to Taipei on August 23, passengers were crying and screaming for help inside the 737-800 aircraft that caught fire on August 20 after landing on the southern Japanese island.

The fire had broken out after the plane landed following its flight from Taipei to Okinawa's Naha airport.

All 157 passengers and eight crew escaped unhurt minutes before the plane's left engine exploded and ripped the plane apart, sending flames and columns of black smoke billowing into the air.

The crew members did not see the fire as soon as the passengers looking through the plane windows did, causing panic among the 157 passengers and attempts to open the doors, the returning passengers said.

They said emergency exits did not open fast enough and they did not know where to gather for evacuation.

"Inside it was normal, but outside you could see smoke. Everyone was scared, and why couldn't [the crew] see it?" said Lin Hsiu-cheng, 52, a returning tourist from southern Taiwan.

"Finally all four doors opened," she said, adding the explosion came a minute after she got out. Another passenger surnamed Liao said: "The crew was not clear on what to do. We witnesses were much more clear."

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.

Japanese investigators, meanwhile, said on August 23 that they found a hole in the fuel tank of the burned-out plane.

"We spotted a hole in a fuel tank. We suspect that oil leaked from this hole and spilled from the right wing to the outside," the transport ministry's investigative division said.

Jiji Press and Kyodo News said investigators believed the hole was caused by a bolt that pierced the tank.

Earlier reports said investigators were focusing on problems with fuel pipes connecting the engine with the wing - not the fuel tank itself.