TAIPEI, Taiwan — A Taiwanese commercial flight with 53 passengers aboard clipped a bridge shortly after takeoff and crashed into a river in the island’s capital of Taipei on Wednesday morning.
Taiwan’s Central News Agency said at least 10 people were being taking to safety after the incident but gave no immediate information about the other passengers and crew aboard the TransAsia Airways flight.
Taiwanese media posted pictures of the plane in the water several dozen meters (yards) from the shore in the Keelung River.
CNA said the flight from Taipei to the outlying island of Kinmen lost contact with flight controllers at 10:55 a.m. and the fuselage landed in the Keelung River near the city’s downtown Sungshan airport.
The plane was identified as a French-made twin-engine turboprop ATR 72 with a two-pilot air crew.
The plane’s fuselage was seen half-submerged in the shallow river, with passengers and rescuers standing on the hull and swimming in the water.
The accident comes just months after a TransAsia ATR-72 crashed while attempting to land on the island of Penghu off Taiwan’s coast, killing 48 people and injuring another 10. Stormy weather and low visibility were suspected as factors in that crash last July.
