50 Dead in Taiwan Plane Crash, Emergency Landing Failed: Report

www.mangaloretoday.com

Taipei, July 23, 2014: A plane making a second landing attempt in stormy weather crashed at an airport on a small Taiwanese island late Wednesday, killing nearly 50 people and injuring seven, fire officials said.

Taiwan was battered by Typhoon Matmo early Tuesday morning, and the Central Weather Bureau was advising of heavy rain through the evening, even though the center of the storm was in mainland China.

The flight was heading from the capital, Taipei, to the island Penghu, halfway between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan in the Taiwan Strait. Pictures from the airport showed a handful of firefighters using flashlights to look at wreckage in the darkness.

Penghu is a lightly populated island that averages about two flights a day from Taipei.

Taiwan’s Central News Agency cites the Civil Aviation Administration as saying the flight carried 54 passengers and four flight crew and was operated by a Taiwanese airline, TransAsia Airways.

This comes almost a week after the Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 crashed after being shot down over rebel-held eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.