crashed into the Keelung River after apparently ramming into a highway viaduct as seen in this image. -- PHOTO: XINHUA
BY LEE SEOK HWAI
AT LEAST nine people were killed and dozens are feared trapped after their TransAsia Airways plane crashed into a river in New Taipei City on Wednesday, news reports said.
Seventeen others, including two children, have been sent to hospitals in New Taipei City, which encircles Taipei, reported Reuters and Taiwan's United Daily News. The extent of their injuries is not clear, UDN said.
The ATR-72-600 turboprop aircraft with 58 onboard, of whom 31 are tourists from mainland China, was flying from Taipei to the offshore island of Kinmen when it crashed into the Keelung River, the quasi-official Central News Agency (CNA) and Reuters said. The plane had apparently ramming into an elevated highway before falling into the rive, CNA said. The crash happened shortly after the plane took off from Songshan Airport in Taipei and was suspected to be due to insufficient propelling force, according to UDN.
An eye-witness on the ground was cited by the paper as saying the aircraft was flying "almost 90 degrees on its side" and going increasingly low until it hit the highway bridge and crashed into the river.
CNA posted on its website dramatic photos of the plane hitting the highway, as a taxi on the highway apparently swerved to avoid being hit.
PHOTO: XINHUA
The taxi-driver and his passenger were slightly hurt in the crash and have been hospitalised for observation, the report said.
The New Taipei City Fire Department has despatched five rescue teams, equipped with speed boats, to the accident site near the Nanyang Bridge in Xizhi district, CNA said.
Those who were rescued – including two children – were put in dinghies and taken to the shore, Agence France-Presse said. Some were then loaded on stretchers and all 17 rescued have been taken to hospital, reports said.
TransAsia, a privately-owned airline, had suffered a serious crash last July, when flight GE222 crashed near the airport at Magong on the Penghu island chain during a rainstorm, killing 48 people and injuring 10 others. That aircraft was also an ATR-72.
Mr Wang Hsing-chung, an Aviation Safety Council spokesman, was cited as saying on Wednesday investigators were heading for the site to find out the reason for the latest crash.
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