A plane carrying mostly Chinese tourists has crashed into a
river in Taiwan, killing at least 16 people.
The plane, carrying 58 people, has broken up and the
fuselage is lying half-submerged in the Keelung River. Rescue efforts are
ongoing.
Another TransAsia plane crashed in bad weather last July,
killing 48 people.
Rescuers on boats have cut the plane open to gain access,
attempting to access passengers reportedly trapped in the front section of the
fuselage.
TransAsia said in a statement that one passenger had already
been discharged from hospital, but the number of survivors was unclear.
The ATR-72 turbo-prop plane had just taken off from Taipei
Songshan Airport and was heading to the Kinmen islands, just off the coast of
the south-eastern Chinese city of Xiamen.
Reports suggested that the final communication from one of
the pilots had been "Mayday, mayday, engine flame out" and that the
plane had stalled as a result of the engine failure.
Flight controllers lost contact with the plane at 10:55
local time (02:55 GMT).
Footage of the plane filmed from inside passing cars showed
it banking sharply, hitting a taxi and clipping the bridge before crashing into
the river.
I saw a taxi, probably just metres ahead of me, being hit by
one wing of the plane," an eyewitness told local media.
The plane was huge and really close to me. I'm still
trembling."
Reports on the number of dead varied, with many citing
numbers higher than the 16 confirmed by TransAsia. An official at the scene
told the Telegraph that the 195-strong rescue team had not found any survivors
for five hours, and that the death toll had risen to 22.
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