48 feared dead in TransAsia crash
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Updated 24 July 2014, 02.46 GMT
Forty-eight people are not confirmed to have died after a TransAsia Airways aircraft crashed while making an emergency landing.
The aircraft reportedly came down in the Penghu Islands off the coast of Taiwan with 58 people onboard including four crew.
Authorities had initially said 51 people had died, but later confirmed 48 people were feared dead after the ATR-72 aircraft tried to land in stormy weather.
The pilot had failed to land at the first attempt and tried for a second time, when air traffic control lost contact with the aircraft.
The other 10 people onboard the flight are reportedly injured.
The GE222 flight was travelling from Kaohsiung in Taiwan to the city of Magong on a route that takes 35 minutes by flight. Typhoon Matmo had swept through Taiwan on Tuesday morning and had moved to mainland China, but heavy rain continued to fall.
Taiwan’s China News Agency (CNA) has reported the airline as confirming that two French nationals were among those killed.
TransAsia’s general manager, Chooi Yee-choong, held a press conference at Taipei’s Songshan Airport on Wednesday night, to issue an “apology for the unfortunate incident”. He added that TransAsia will do everything possible to help the families of the victims, and to assist with the investigation.
Kaohsiung is located on the main Taiwan island while Magong is the west part of the main Penghu Island, a cluster of islands that sit in the Taiwan Strait between Taiwan and China.
Photos of the wreckage are starting to emerge on Twitter
Photo from plane wreckage of TransAsia Airways Flight #GE222 in Taiwan: pic.twitter.com/tf26dIQeLQ
— Michael Skolnik (@MichaelSkolnik) July 23, 2014
เกิดเหตุเครื่องบินสายการบิน TransAsia เที่ยวบิน #GE222 ตกขณะลงจอดฉุกเฉินที่เกาะเผิงหูของไต้หวัน เสียชีวิต 51 เจ็บ 7 pic.twitter.com/HTJhdVCqqd — Panupong NOW26 (@Pongz_NOW) July 23, 2014
TransAsia was founded in 1951 and is based in the Neihu District of Taipei, operating flights domestically and within Asia to countries including Thailand, Macau, South Korea, Japan and Cambodia. The airline is the third largest in Taiwan.
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