Plane crashes in Taiwan, 47 trapped, feared dead
AP
Photo: Wong Yao-wen
Rescue workers work next to the
wreckage of TransAsia Airways flight GE222 which crashed while attempting to
land in stormy weather on the Taiwanese island of Penghu, late Wednesday, July
23, 2014. A plane landing in stormy weather crashed outside an airport on a
small Taiwanese island late Wednesday, and a transport minister said dozens of
people were trapped and feared dead.
2
hr ago By Associated Press
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A plane
landing in stormy weather crashed outside an airport on a small Taiwanese
island late Wednesday, and the transport minister said 47 people were trapped
and feared dead.
Another 11 people were injured when
the ATR-72 operated by Taiwan's TransAsia Airways crashed on Penghu, an island
in the Taiwan Strait between Taiwan and China, Transport Minister Yeh
Kuang-shih was quoted as saying by the government's Central News Agency. The
plane was arriving from Kaohsiung, a city in southern Taiwan.
Typhoon
hits Taiwan, 47 people killed in plane crash
54 min ago Duration: 0:42 Views: 9 
The twin-engine turboprop plane
crashed while making a second landing attempt with a total of 58 passengers and
crew members aboard, according to Yeh.
President Ma Ying-jeou called it
"a very sad day in the history of Taiwanese aviation" and ordered
authorities to quickly clarify the details, said a spokesman for his office, Ma
Wei-kuo, the news agency reported.
The plane crashed in the village of
Xixi outside the airport. Photos in local media showed firefighters using
flashlights to look at wreckage in the darkness, and buildings and cars damaged
by debris.
About 200 military personnel were
sent to help recover the people who were on the plane, Taiwanese Defense
Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Luo Shou-he said, according to the Central News
Agency.
The ministry said military vehicles
and ambulances were rushing people to hospitals and an air force rescue team
was on standby to transfer survivors to Taiwan's main island if needed for
treatment, the agency reported.
AP
Photo: Wong Yao-wen
Rescue workers survey the wreckage
of TransAsia Airways flight GE222 which crashed while attempting to land in
stormy weather on the Taiwanese island of Penghu, late Wednesday, July 23,
2014.
The flight left Kaohsiung at 4:53
p.m. for Magong on Penghu, according to the head of Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics
Administration, Jean Shen. The plane lost contact with the tower at 7:06 p.m.
after saying it would make a second landing attempt.
Visibility as the plane approached
was 1,600 meters (one mile), which met standards for landing, and two flights
had landed before GE222, one at 5:34 p.m. and the other at 6:57 p.m., the
aviation agency reported. Shen said the plane was 14 years old.
But the Central News Agency, citing
the county fire department, said it appeared heavy rain reduced visibility and
the pilot was forced to pull up and make the second landing attempt. The news
agency had earlier quoted a local fire chief as saying 51 people had been
killed.
Taiwan was battered by Typhoon Matmo
overnight Tuesday, and the Central Weather Bureau warned of heavy rain
Wednesday evening, even after the center of the storm had moved west to mainland
China.
TransAsia Airways' general manager,
Hsu Yi-Tsung, bowed deeply before reporters and tearfully apologized for the
accident, the Central News Agency said.
Hsu said the carrier was arranging
to take the relatives of passengers on the flight to Magong on Thursday morning
and that it would spare no effort in the rescue and in handling the aftermath,
the report said.
Taiwan's last major aviation
disaster also was near Penghu. A China Airlines Boeing 747 broke apart in
midair in 2002 and crashed into the Taiwan Strait, killing all 225 people
aboard.
In October 2013, a Lao Airlines
ATR-72 crashed during a heavy storm as it approached Pakse Airport in southern
Laos, killing all 49 people on board.
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