Taiwan Plane Crashed into River: 11 Dead

Local Editor

Officials and domestic media stated that at least eleven people were killed and dozens were unaccounted for after a Taiwanese TransAsia Airways plane with 58 passengers and crew on board crashed into a Taipei River shortly after take-off on Wednesday, said.

Dramatic pictures taken by a motorist and posted on Twitter showed the plane cartwheeling over a motorway close to Taipei's downtown airport soon after the turboprop ATR 72-600 aircraft took off for the island of Kinmen.
Television footage showed passengers wearing life jackets wading and swimming clear of the river. The crash was the airline's second disaster in the last six months.

Furthermore, emergency rescue officials in inflatable boats crowded around the partially submerged fuselage of Flight GE235, lying on its side in the river, trying to help those on board.

The civilian aeronautic authority said soon after the crash that two people had been killed and 28 people had been rescued; meaning as many as 19 people were still missing. Taiwan's fire department later reported the death toll had risen to 11.

Other Taiwanese government authorities said the plane was carrying 58 passengers and crew, including 31 tourists from mainland China.
The weather appeared to be clear when the plane took off.

Footage shown on Taiwanese television as well as on YouTube showed the plane's port-side wing clipping an overpass after it missed what appeared to be apartment buildings by meters.

A van skidded to a halt, just missing the stricken plane's wing. Pictures showed damage to the overpass next to the river, with small pieces of the aircraft scattered along the road.

Taipei's downtown Songshan airport, the smaller of the city's two airports, provides mostly domestic flights but also connections to Japan, China and South Korea.

The crash is the latest in a string of mishaps to hit Asian carriers in the past 12 months.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team