Taiwan plane crash: TransAsia Airways flight plunges into Taipei river bridge
At least two people died when a plane carrying 58 people crashed into a river after hitting a bridge in Taiwan's capital Taipei, the government says.
Taipei City government spokesman Sidney Lin told Focus Taiwan news channel the TransAsia Airways crashed into the Keelung River in Taipei after hitting an elevated bridge.
About 16 people were rescued, civil aeronautics authorities told a media briefing. Thirty-one mainland Chinese tourists were among those on board, Taiwan's tourism bureau said.
Local TV news reported 53 passengers and five crew were believed to be on board the ATR 72-600 turboprop plane, which was on a domestic flight.
Television images showed rescuers standing on large sections of broken wreckage trying to pull passengers out of the plane with ropes. Those who were rescued, including two children, were put in dinghies and taken to the shore.
Some were then loaded on stretchers and all 17 rescued have been taken to hospital, reports said. Officials at Taiwanese emergency services were not immediately available to comment.
The accident happened a few minutes after the plane took off from Taipei's Songshan airport en route to the island of Kinmen. Last July, 48 people were killed after another domestic TransAsia flight crashed onto houses during a storm on the Taiwanese island of Penghu.
ABC/wires
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