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.
___
Associated Press writers Gillian Wong and Joe McDonald in Beijing and Johnson Lai in Taipei contributed
to this report.