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TransAsia ATR 72-600 turboprop plane hit a road bridge before ploughing into the river. PHOTO: @TOMGRUNDY
TAIPEI: Eleven of the 58 people on board a TransAsia plane were killed after it crash landed in a Taipei river, a TV station reported on Wednesday.
Earlier, the government had said at least two people were killed in the incident, while civil aeronautics authorities put the number of those rescued at about 16. Thirty-one mainland Chinese tourists were among those on board, Taiwan’s tourism bureau said.
A passenger plane with 58 people on board plunged into a river outside Taiwan’s capital Taipei Wednesday, with 17 people rescued and dozens trapped inside, according to television reports.
A statement released by the Taiwanese Central Disaster Response Centre said “The plane lost contact at 10.53am on and was found in Keelung river in Taipei. The ministry of transportation contacted the disaster response centre 20 minutes later. Taipei city rescue teams are in operation, having rescued 16 people who were admitted to a nearby hospital, with two announced dead on arrival.”
PHOTO: AFP
Several fire engines, ambulances, water craft and almost 170 rescue staff were deployed.
The TransAsia ATR 72-600 turboprop plane was on a domestic flight when it hit a road bridge before ploughing into the river, the reports said. Rescuers were trying to reach the trapped passengers.
On Twitter, photos emerged of the plane as it attempted to make its crash landing.
Television images showed rescuers standing on large sections of broken wreckage trying to pull passengers out of the plane with ropes. Those who were rescued — including two children — were put in dinghies and taken to the shore.
Rescuers pull a passenger out of the TransAsia Airways plane which crash landed in a river, in New Taipei City, February 4, 2015. PHOTO: REUTERS
Some were then loaded on stretchers and all 17 rescued have been taken to hospital, reports said.
Officials at Taiwanese emergency services were not immediately available to comment.
The accident happened just before 11:00 am (0300 GMT), a few minutes after the plane took off from Taipei’s Songshan airport en route to the island of Kinmen.
PHOTO: AFP
Last July 48 people were killed after another domestic TransAsia flight crashed onto houses during a storm on the Taiwanese island of Penghu.
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