A TransAsia Airways plane carrying 53 passengers and five crew members crash-landed in a river in Taiwan on Wednesday, killing at least 16 people.
The toll is likely to increase as several people are still trapped inside the aircraft. Thirty-one of the passengers were Chinese.
The plane crash landed in Keelung River in Taipei after it hit an elevated bridge, according to the Taipei City government spokesman Sidney Lin, the Focus Taiwan News Channel reported.
The plane had taken off from the Taipei Songshan Airport and was headed to Kinmen Airport off the coast of southeastern China.
This is the second fatal crash involving the domestic TransAsia Airways in a matter of months. Last July, 48 people were killed when a TransAsia Airways plane crashed in Taiwan's Penghu archipelago.
Dramatic videos of the moment when the plane clipped a bridge and then crashed into the river are circulating on social media.
Initial reports says ~12 people rescued, at least another 10 trapped in the plane. #GE235 #Taiwan #aviation pic.twitter.com/4qNYo5l1fb
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) February 4, 2015
#Taiwan today. pic.twitter.com/zcV9dz2Xzi — Ali Kamran Chishti (@akchishti) February 4, 2015
#UPDATE Taiwan plane crash lands in river, more than 10 hurt http://t.co/JNMppCk1Qv pic.twitter.com/zHI1yLfJsD
— malaysiakini.com (@malaysiakini) February 4, 2015
WATCH LIVE: UDN TV coverage of the #TransAsia plane crash in Taiwan: https://t.co/xQSv5e6D12 pic.twitter.com/Aff1758vIr
— Andrew Peng (@TheAPJournalist) February 4, 2015
