TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A plane
attempting to land in stormy weather crashed on a small Taiwanese island
late Wednesday, killing 48 people and wrecking houses and cars on the
ground.
The ATR-72 operated by Taiwan's
TransAsia Airways was carrying 58 passengers and crew when it crashed on
Penghu in the Taiwan Strait between Taiwan and China, authorities said.
The plane was arriving from the city of Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan.
Two people aboard the plane were
French citizens and the rest Taiwanese, Transport Minister Yeh
Kuang-shih told reporters. The government's Central News Agency identified the French passengers Thursday as Jeromine Deramond and Penelope Luternauer.
The twin-engine turboprop crashed while making a second landing attempt, Yeh said.
The crash of Flight GE222 was
Taiwan's first fatal air accident in 12 years and came after Typhoon
Matmo passed across the island, causing heavy rains that continued into
Wednesday night. About 200 airline flights had been canceled earlier in
the day due to rain and strong winds.
The official death toll was 48,
according to Wen Chia-hung, spokesman for the Penghu disaster response
center. He said the 10 other people were injured.
Authorities were looking for one person who might have been in a house that was struck by wreckage, Wen said.
President Ma Ying-jeou called it
"a very sad day in the history of Taiwanese aviation," according to a
spokesman for his office, Ma Wei-kuo, the Central News Agency reported.
The agency said the plane's captain had 22 years of flying experience
and the co-pilot had 2-1/2 years. The airline was offering the family of
each victim about $6,600 and paying another $27,000 for funeral
expenses, the agency reported.
The plane came down in the
village of Xixi outside the airport.
Television stations showed rescue
workers pulling bodies from the wreckage. Photos in local media showed firefighters using flashlights to look through the wreckage and buildings damaged by debris.
Penghu, a scenic chain of 64
islets, is a popular tourist site about 150 kilometers (90 miles)
southwest of the Taiwanese capital, Taipei.
Residents said they heard
thunder and then what sounded like an explosion, the news agency said.
It cited the Central Weather Bureau as saying there were thunderstorms
in the area.
"I heard a loud bang," a local
resident was quoted as saying by television station TVBS. "I thought it
was thunder, and then I heard another bang and I saw a fireball not far
away from my house."
About 200 military personnel were sent to help at the crash site, Taiwanese Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Luo Shou-he said, according to the news agency.
The ministry said military vehicles and ambulances rushed people to hospitals, the agency reported.
The flight left Kaohsiung at
4:53 p.m. for Magong on Penghu, according to the head of Taiwan's Civil
Aeronautics Administration, Jean Shen. The plane lost contact with the
tower at 7:06 p.m. after saying it would make a second landing attempt.
Visibility as the plane
approached was 1,600 meters (one mile), which met standards for landing,
and two flights had landed before GE222, one at 5:34 p.m. and the other
at 6:57 p.m., the aviation agency reported. Shen said the plane was 14
years old.
The Central News Agency, citing
the county fire department, said it appeared heavy rain reduced
visibility and the pilot was forced to pull up and attempt a second
landing.
The Central Weather Bureau had
warned of heavy rain Wednesday evening, even after the center of the
storm had moved west to mainland China.
In Taipei, TransAsia Airways'
general manager, Hsu Yi-Tsung, bowed deeply before reporters and
tearfully apologized for the accident, the news agency said.
"As TransAsia is responsible for this matter, we apologize. We apologize," Hsu said.
Hsu said the carrier would take relatives of passengers to Magong on Thursday, the report said.
Taiwan's last major aviation
disaster was also near Penghu. In 2002, a China Airlines Boeing 747
broke apart in midair and crashed into the Taiwan Strait, killing all
225 people aboard.
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