TAIPEI: Nine people have died and dozens are feared trapped after a TransAsia Airways plane clipped a bridge and crashed into a river near the Taiwanese capital, Taipei.
Two children are amongst the seventeen who have been sent to hospitals in New Taipei City, which encircles Taipei, reported Taiwan’s United Daily News. The extent of their injuries is not clear, UDN said.
Rescue teams are alongside the plane trying to rescue about 30 people still trapped inside.Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA) broadcast footage of the plane almost submerged in the Keelung river.
The ATR-72-600 turboprop aircraft with 58 onboard, of whom 31 are tourists from mainland China had just taken off from Taipei Songshan Airport and was headed to the outlying Kinmen islands, just off the coast of south-east China, 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.
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.
A taxi-driver and his passenger, were also slightly hurt in the crash, CNA said, and have been hospitalised for observation.
Mr. Wang Hsing-chung, an Aviation Safety Council spokesman, was cited as saying; investigators were heading for the site to find out the reason for the latest crash.
In July 2014 a TransAsia ATR-72 crashed on the Taiwanese island of Penghu when a landing attempt went wrong in bad weather. There were 48 people killed and 10 survivors
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