A TransAsia Airways ATR 72-600 carrying 58 passengers crashed into Taiwan’s Keelung River shortly after taking off from Taipei Songshan Airport on Wednesday, killing at least 23 occupants. At least 15 people survived the crash after the 72-seat turboprop banked sharply left soon after takeoff, barely missing an apartment building and clipping the top of a taxi traveling on an overpass with its left wing before crashing into the river. As night fell crews continued to search for 20 missing occupants.
Flight GE235 took off from Songhan Airport at around 10:45 a.m. local time on a scheduled flight between Taipei and the Taiwanese island of Kinmen. Footage taken by a motorist and posted on Twitter showed the airplane barely clearing the apartment buildings and careening over the roadway.
Soon after takeoff the pilots called “Mayday” and indicated an engine flameout, reported Reuters. ATR identified the aircraft, registered as B-22816, as MSN 1141.
The crash marked the second fatal accident in seven months for TransAsia, Taiwan’s third largest airline. In July, a TransAsia ATR 72-500 crashed into a residential area while trying to land on Taiwan’s Penghu Island, killing 48 of the 58 people on board.
The Aviation Safety Council of Taiwan leads the investigation into the latest accident, while, according to ICAO regulations, ATR will advise the French Bureau d'Enquêtes et Analyses (BEA), the safety investigation authority representing the state of the aircraft manufacturer.