TransAsia Airways accident led to hitting a taxi on a road bridge before the plane crashed into a Taipei river, hurting dozens of people, trapping others on the wreckage and killing more than ten passengers.
More casualties are expected as the rescue operations continue. TransAsia Airways accident happened Wednesday, Feb. 4. The Straits Times reported that the Taipei government announced that 29 people were missing and 16 were injured in the fatal plane crash.
The TransAsia Airways bound on domestic flight was loaded with 58 people, where 53 were passengers and 5 were flight crew and are all Chinese nationals. The ATR 72-600 turboprop plane flight GE235 departed from Taipei's Songshan Airport and bound to Kinmen before it crashed three minutes later.
There are still no confirmed numbers of missing and fatalities for the TransAsia Airways accident. However, the Taiwanese Civil Aviation Authority released a statement in a conference that nine people were confirmed dead, 18 were wounded and there were no information yet about the 31 people.
The turboprop aircraft with passengers from Taiwan and China crashed into Keelung River in New Taipei City, Taiwan around 11 a.m. After taking off from the airport, the plane smashed into Highway Bridge in New Taipei City. Flight controllers lost contact with the aircraft at 10:55 local time, BBC reports.
The TransAsia Airways accident was apparently caused by insufficient propelling force. When the aircraft hit the bridge, a taxi swerved to avoid the plane. The driver of the taxi suffered head injury but is now declared out-of-danger.
Several videos on the TransAsia Airways accident showed there were nine fire engines, eight rescue boats, over 15 ambulances and up to 100 rescue personnel working on the wreckage.
On Wednesday, TransAsia released a statement regarding the TransAsia Airways accident. The airline confirmed that four of the wounded were children and are currently being treated in the hospital. There were other three kids in the 31 unclassified passengers.
The TransAsia also declared that the ATR 72-600 turboprop plane was serviced last on Jan. 26 and it was newly shipped last April.
TransAsia is a privately-owned airline and is Taiwan's third-biggest carrier. Aside from ATR jets, it also operates Airbus A320 and A330 on domestic and international flights.
The TransAsia Airways accident on Wednesday was not the first reported plane crash of the airline. In July, one of its ATR-72 planes flight GE222 also crashed during a rainstorm that killed 48 people and injuring 10 according to Reuters.