A domestic TransAsia Airways plane crashed at an airport on a small Taiwanese island while making a second landing attempt in stormy weather Wednesday, killing 47 people and injuring 11, the Civil Aeronautics Administration said. On the same day, Typhoon Matmo slammed into Taiwan with heavy rains and strong winds, shutting financial markets and schools.
The plane, a 70-seat turboprop ATR 72, crashed near the Magong airport runway on the outlying Penghu island, with 54 passengers and four flight crew on board, Taiwan's central News Agency has reported. It appeared to have crashed during an attempt to make an emergency landing.
The flight was heading from the capital, Taipei, to the island Penghu, halfway between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan in the Taiwan Strait, UK MailOnline reported. Penghu is a lightly populated island that averages about two flights a day from Taipei.
The plane departed from the southern municipality of Kaohsiung at 17:43 local time (09:43 GMT), but lost contact with controllers at 19:06, CNA said, citing the Civil Aviation Authority.
A photo published by local media showed firefighters examining the debris, with light being shone to illuminate the wreckage in the darkness. "It's chaotic on the scene," Jean Shen, director of the civil aviation authorities, told Reuters. "The fire department was putting out the flames. They will give us the number of casualties very soon."
Eleven injured people had been taken to hospital, the government said. No more details were immediately available.
David Vargas, a spokesman for plane manufacturer ATR, told the BBC's Chinese service: "We are aware of the crash. We are trying to get more information and confirm what went wrong."
TransAsia Airways is a Taiwan-based airline with a fleet of 23 mostly Airbus aircraft, flying chiefly on domestic routes, but with some flights to Japan, Thailand and Cambodia among its Asian destinations.
Apart from Wednesday's event, Taiwan's aviation safety council said TransAsia has had a total of 8 incidents since 2002, including 6 involving the ATR 72.