Plane Clips Bridge and Plunges Into River, Killing 23 in Taiwan
Around twenty people were missing Wednesday after a TransAsia Airways flight clipped its wing on a bridge shortly after takeoff from the Taiwanese capital Taipei and then crashed into a nearby river, killing at least 23.
More than half of the 58 passengers aboard TransAsia Airways Flight GE235 en route to the outlying Taiwan-controlled Kinmen islands were from China and the death toll was expected to rise. The plane is an ATR72-600 prop-jet aircraft.
Rescuers rushed to the scene of the crash, where a large portion of the wrecked fuselage jutted out of the shallow Keelung River with one wing missing. Hours later, emergency personnel in rubber dinghies crowded around what remained of the plane. Cranes were brought to the river to lift up the wreckage. As night fell in Taiwan, 20 people were still missing.
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