Rescuers scour Taiwan crash site as pilot hailed a hero

Taiwan rescuers scoured a river for 12 people still missing from a TransAsia plane crash on Thursday (Feb 5), as the pilot, who died in the crash, was hailed a hero for apparently battling to avoid hitting built-up areas.

Hundreds of rescuers in boats, as well as divers and soldiers mounted the search in the chilly waters, as the death toll rose to 31 with more bodies located including those of the pilot and co-pilot, authorities said. The TransAsia ATR 72-600 crashed shortly after take-off from Songshan airport in Taipei on Wednesday, hitting an elevated road as it banked sidelong towards the Keelung River, leaving a trail of debris including a smashed taxi.

In an operation overnight, large parts of the plane's fuselage were lifted from the river, enabling rescuers to recover bodies trapped inside, as divers on Thursday battled strong currents to search downstream for more victims.

Fifteen people were injured in the incident, while 12 people remained missing from the 58 people on board flight GE235. The two persons in the taxi clipped by the plane were still hospitalised, said TransAsia Airways in a statement.

The airline has started giving out emergency relief funds of NT$200,000 (S$8,600) to the families of those affected - those on board and those who were in the taxi. Nine families have received the funds, and the airline is in the process of giving out the money to the remaining families. TransAsia has also given out funeral allowance of NT$1.2 million (S$51,000) to the families of the victims who have been identified, it said.

Pilot Liao Chien-tsung was applauded by aviation experts for apparently steering the turboprop plane, which had 53 passengers and five crew on board, away from populated areas, potentially avoiding more deaths and damage. "The pilot apparently made a conscious effort to avoid further and unnecessary casualties by ditching in the river. It was a very courageous move," Hong Kong-based aviation analyst Daniel Tsang told AFP.

Emotional citizens posted their praise and condolences on social media sites. "I believe the pilot managed to steer the plane away from high-rise buildings, he is a hero," Gin Oy, a writer and actress, said on her Facebook page.

The Apple Daily newspaper ran a front-page story thanking "the pilot for saving Taipei". "We are proud of him. He was very brave to avoid the buildings," Liao's aunt told reporters at a funeral home in Taipei. Friends and relatives described the 41-year-old Liao as a diligent and family-loving man from a humble background who studied hard to join the air force before becoming a commercial pilot.

President Ma Ying-jeou paid his respects to the victims and comforted their families at a funeral home in Taipei and was scheduled to visit the wounded at several hospitals later Thursday.

Near the river, dozens of weeping relatives called out the names of their loved who perished as monks chanted scripts and waved the victims' clothes in front the plane's wreckage in a religious ritual to guide the spirits home.

Condolences from aboard poured in. Pope Francis sent a message to Taiwan's archbishop Hung Shan-chuan offering prayers for the dead and "strength and comfort" for the injured and mourning. The United States' de facto embassy in Taiwan also offered its condolences.




TODDLER'S ESCAPE

Tales of miraculous escapes have emerged. Television footage showed a father cuddling his toddler son as they were taken to shore by boat after being rescued on Wednesday. Together with the child's mother, the family had switched seats on the plane "out of a hunch" that saved their lives, the United Daily News said, quoting a family friend.

Their new seats put them next to a crack in the plane after it crashed and Lin was able to pull his wife to safety and then revive his son after spotting him in the water, blue and unresponsive.

"My brother just can't live without his son. When he found him, after lying in cold water for three minutes and with no signs of breathing or heartbeat, he performed CPR. He brought his son back," survivor Lin's brother Lin Ming-yi told reporters.

The accident, which occurred on a domestic route to the island of Kinmen, was the second fatal crash for TransAsia since July. Desperate crew shouted "Mayday! Mayday! Engine flameout!" as the plane plunged out of the sky, according to a recording thought to be the final message from the cockpit to the control tower.

Among the 15 survivors of the crash, 26-year-old flight attendant Huang Jin-ya was lucky for the second time - she was supposed to be on the plane that crashed in July, killing 48, but switched her shift, according to local reports. "She crawled out of the plane using her last moments of consciousness and saw water everywhere. She kept crying and said to me 'I thought I was going to die'," said her aunt according to United Daily News.

A total of 31 Chinese nationals were onboard the plane, with at least 16 dead, 12 missing and three injured, the government said. Some of the grieving relatives arrived in Taiwan on Thursday. Local media reported that among the Chinese victims, 26-year-old tour leader Wang Qinghuo from Xiamen was due to get married on Sunday.

The Civil Aeronautics Administration has grounded a total of 22 ATR planes from two Taiwanese airlines for safety checks following the accident.

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Several dead after TransAsia plane crash lands in Taipei river

A TransAsia Airways plane has crash landed into the Keelung River in Taipei, breaking into several pieces and injuring more than 10 people. At least 12 people have been reported dead.

Sixteen people have been rescued and sent to hospital, of which two of them were dead on arrival, said Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA). Thirty are still trapped or missing, reported TVBS. More than a hundred rescuers are currently involved.

The plane, TransAsia GE235, had 58 people aboard when it crash landed at 10.56am, local time, reported TVBS. Of the 58, there were 51 adults, two children and five crew members. Taiwan's CAA said the plane lost contact at 10.53am.

Thirty-one mainland Chinese tourists were among those on board, Taiwan's tourism bureau said.

The plane was an ATR-72, which just arrived in Taiwan last year, reported TVBS. The plane was on a domestic flight when it hit a road bridge before ploughing into the river, the AFP reported.

Taiwan's TransAsia Airways was involved in a deadly crash in July last year, when its plane, GE222, attempted to land in stormy weather and crashed on the island of Penghu, killing 48 people and wrecking houses and cars on the ground.

Footage taken from TVBS shows the plane hitting a vehicle while passing close to a highway.

Unverified images from a Twitter user in Taiwan have shown images of the plane flying close to a highway and going almost sideways before it hit the river.

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TransAsia Airways' profile

Founded in 1951, TransAsia Airways was Taiwan's first private airline. It started with just eight European-made ATR-72 aircraft, built through a joint-venture with the Airbus Group.

Today, it is Taiwan's third-biggest airline by fleet-size, after China Airlines and Eva Airways. It is one of three airlines that flies daily to Penghu Island - a popular tourist destination.

TransAsia Airways flies mostly on domestic routes, but has some international flights, including to China, Japan and Singapore.

Website airlineratings.com gives the airline a safety rating of six out of seven.

According to Taiwan's Aviation Safety Council, TransAsia has had eight accidents since 2002, with 49 people killed - this includes the 48 passengers in the latest crash.

The cause of Wednesday's crash is still unknown. But investigators from the Aviation Safety Council are examining all possibilities, including weather, mechanical failure and human error.

Taiwanese officials have defended the decision to allow flight GE222 to take-off that fateful day. They said weather conditions were within acceptable limits.

The route between Kaohsiung and Penghu has experienced some 13 airplane accidents since the route was started, with 350 people killed. But Taiwan's major airlines have made improvements in safety, after several fatal crashes in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Wednesday's crash is likely to deal a blow to TransAsia's expansion plans. The airline had planned to launch the island's first low-cost airline this year.

TransAsia could also be suspended for 12 months from applying for new international routes, including the lucrative cross-strait sector.

Listed on the Taiwan stock exchange, TransAsia shares fell 5.5 per cent on news of the crash, but has since made a modest recovery.

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Airline group vows action after black week for aviation

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said Friday (July 25) it will "leave nothing unturned" to boost global aviation safety after a black week for the industry that has claimed over 460 lives in three separate crashes.

"With three tragedies in such quick succession, many people will, understandably, be asking questions about aviation safety," Tony Tyler, the head of the global airline federation, said in a statement. "The greatest respect that we can pay to the memory of those involved is to leave nothing unturned in our quest to understand the cause and to take steps to ensure that it is not repeated.

"Our number one priority is safety. And despite the events of the past seven days, flying is safe," he added.

Tyler's comments came at the end of a disastrous week for the aviation industry. On July 17, a Malaysia Airlines jet crashed in rebel-held eastern Ukraine, believed downed by a surface-to-air missile, killing all 298 people on board. A Taiwanese aircraft crashed in torrential rain in southwest Taiwan on Wednesday, killing 48. On Friday, the wreckage of an Air Algerie plane bound for Algier from Burkina Faso with at least 116 people on board was found in Mali's Gossi region, a day after it went missing.

Tyler said the number of fatalities from aviation incidents this year had surpassed the 210 deaths seen last year. "But even so, getting on an aircraft is still among the safest activities that one can do," he said. "Safeguarding our customers from harm as we transport them around the world is core to the mission of the aviation industry."

IATA represents 240 airlines around the world that account for 84 per cent of total air traffic.

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48 killed, 10 survivors in Taiwan plane crash: airline

Taiwan's TransAsia Airways said Thursday (July 24) that 48 people were killed and 10 survived when one of its turboprop passenger planes crashed after an aborted landing during stormy weather.

Flight GE222 was carrying 54 passengers and four crew members on a domestic flight when it crashed on Wednesday at Magong on the Penghu island chain, TransAsia said, clarifying conflicting death tolls given by officials previously. Two French medical students were among the dead, the foreign ministry in Paris said.

The ATR 72-500 was flying from the southwestern city of Kaohsiung to the islands off the west coast and had been delayed by bad weather as Typhoon Matmo pounded Taiwan, according to authorities. It was trying to land for a second time after aborting the first attempt during heavy rain, crashing into two houses near Magong airport and injuring five people on the ground, officials said.

TransAsia said it planned to compensate each family of the deceased with NT$1 million ($33,000), and offer NT$200,000 to each of the injured.

Television images showed firefighters working in torrential rain to douse fires from the plane's wreckage and soldiers deployed to help on the scene. The mother of one survivor said: "My daughter called me. She said 'mum, my plane crashed'. She said she climbed out and borrowed a phone from others."

TransAsia, Taiwan's first private airline, flies domestic routes as well as to China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Vietnam. It is due to launch the island's first low-cost airline later this year. An ATR-72 operated by Lao Airlines crashed during a heavy storm in southern Laos in October 2013, killing all 49 people on board.

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Taiwan's first budget airline named "V air"

Taiwan's TransAsia Airways said on Thursday a low-cost carrier it aims to launch later this year will be called "V air" as it seeks to tap the growing budget travel market.

TransAsia said it picked "V air" out of nearly 8,000 entries in a public naming contest while the new carrier's Chinese name will be "Wei Hang", which means "mighty airline" in English.

"V can stand for voyage, vision, vivid, or victory which symbolise the positive energy a new company requires and can help boost the public's preference and acceptance of the new company," it said in a statement.

Two winners of the naming contest are entitled to unlimited free flights on the budget airline for 10 years, it said.

The company, Taiwan's first private airline, said in November last year it would spend around T$3 billion (US$100 million) to launch Taiwan's first low-cost airline catering to the needs of Taiwanese travellers.

TransAsia plans initially to lease two to three brand-new Airbus A320/A321 planes and hopes to start flying by year's end.

TransAsia -- which flies to Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Vietnam, has been expanding as it benefits from increased revenues from new China routes that have opened up in recent years as relations between Beijing and Taipei have improved.

Demand for discount flights has been rising in Asia. Twelve foreign budget airlines, including Malaysia-based AirAsia and Japan's Peach Aviation, offer services to and from Taiwan.

Taiwan's leading carrier China Airlines announced in December that it would set up a new no-frills airline in a joint venture with Singapore's budget carrier Tigerair, expected to become operational in 2014 with three A-320s.

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TransAsia to launch Taiwan's first budget airline

TransAsia Airways said Wednesday it would spend around NT$3 billion (US$100 million) to launch Taiwan's first low-cost airline as it tries to tap into growing demand for cheap travel.

"We have been preparing this for a long time and our goal is to design a budget airline completely catering to the needs and expectations of the Taiwanese people," said chairman Vincent Lin, after the company secured government approval to set up the so-far unnamed budget subsidiary.

TransAsia, Taiwan's first private airline, plans initially to lease two to three Airbus A320/A321 planes and hopes to start flying within a year, Lin said.

"We will lease brand-new aircraft for a brand-new airline. We will use the best equipment possible," he said.

Lin declined to say which routes the airline would serve or what fares it would charge.

The company has launched a contest to name the new airline, with the winner entitled to unlimited free flights for 10 years, Lin said.

TransAsia -- which flies to Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Vietnam -- has been expanding as it benefits from increased revenues from new China routes that have opened up in recent years since relations between Beijing and Taipei improved.

Demands for discount flying has been rising in Asia. Currently 12 foreign budget airlines, including Malaysia-based AirAsia and Japan's Peach Aviation, offer services to and from Taiwan.

Taiwan's leading carrier China Airlines has also applied to the authorities to launch a low-cost carrier. The bid is awaiting government approval.

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