A small plane that attempted to land at Kagoshima Airport ended up stopping in the middle of its sole runway Monday after sustaining damage to its propeller and landing gear.

The transport ministry's Kagoshima Airport office said the aircraft's 49-year-old male pilot and four female passengers were safe, but labeled it a serious incident and dispatched three investigators on Tuesday.

The accident occurred at around 1:20 p.m. after the Cirrus SR22 left Nagasaki Airport. It was scheduled to land at Kagoshima Airport in Kirishima at 1:45 p.m., the airport office said.

The accident closed the runway for 4½ hours, forcing the cancelation of 58 flights and the diversion of six others.

Police said Tuesday that the pilot encountered problems when landing a different small plane at the same airport in April last year when the landing gear failed to deploy.