- TransAsia Airways flight GE235 crashed in Taipei a few minutes after it took off at 10:53 am local time Wednesday, February 4.
- There were 53 passengers and five crew members on board the aircraft, according to Taiwanese authorities.
- The authorities have confirmed 31 deaths, according to the Associated Press. There were 15 survivors, and 12 people are still missing.
TransAsia flight GE235 has crashed in Taiwan
The crash was caught on video
Someone driving near the scene of the crash (reportedly Twitter user @Missxoxo168) captured video of the plane with a dashboard camera.
There’s another dashboard video of the crash here. The airplane fell into the Keelung River.
It missed apartment buildings by meters, Reuters reported. The video also shows a van being clipped by the airplane’s wing as it flew over. Here’s what the vehicle looked like afterward:
TVBS: Taxi cab was clipped by #GE235 as it descended into river in Taipei. #Taiwan #TransAsia pic.twitter.com/YuvtTl9xUP
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) February 4, 2015 The taxi driver and his passenger were “slightly hurt” in the encounter, and later hospitalized for observation, according to the Straits Times. The driver is in the hospital in stable condition, according to the manager of the taxi company who spoke to the Guardian. The company “planned to raise the topic of compensation with TransAsia Airways at a later date.”
Rescuers are still looking for survivors
On Thursday morning local time, rescue workers were still looking for survivors. Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics Administration has reported that 31 people are confirmed dead, 15 people have been rescued and there are still 12 people missing, according to the Associated Press.
Taiwan’s tourism bureau says 31 of the passengers were tourists from the Chinese mainland, according to CNBC. Two passengers were small children.
More than 170 people were deployed for the rescue operations, along with numerous fire engines, ambulances, and jet skis.
#Taiwan #TransAsia plane crashed into Keelung River in Taipei, rescuers evacuating those on board @ChannelNewsAsia pic.twitter.com/TM1ypMMh9z
— Victoria Jen (@victoriajen) February 4, 2015 The pilots had thousands of hours of experience
The pilot had more than 4,900 hours of experience, and the co-pilot had more than 6,900, Taiwan’s head of civilian aviation authority told Reuters. The plane last underwent maintenance on January 26, slightly more than one week before the crash. It was less than a year old.
TransAsia flight GE235 was an ATR 72-600. It looked like this:
Picture of TransAsia Airways ATR 72-600 B-22816 aircraft that ditched in river after take off http://t.co/avoO7mzhq3 pic.twitter.com/DSJAR4se9v
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) February 4, 2015 This is the second TransAsia crash in less than a year
Last July, TransAsia flight GE222 crashed, killing 48 of the 58 people on board. The plane went down on Penghu Island, which is in the strait between Taiwan and mainland China. That crash occurred as the plane was attempting to land in heavy rain. The exact cause of last year’s crash is still being investigated. GE222 was an ATR 72-500, an older version of the plane that crashed Wednesday.
On Wednesday, TransAsia’s shares closed down 6.9 percent after heavy trade, the company’s biggest percentage drop since 2011, according to Reuters.
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