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| Rescuers lift the wreckage of the TransAsia ATR 72-600 out of the Keelung river at New Taipei City on Feb 4, 2015. (Photo: AFP/ Sam Yeh) |
TAIPEI: A total of 31 people were confirmed killed on Wednesday (Feb 4) when a passenger plane operated by TransAsia Airways clipped an overpass soon after take-off and plunged into the Keelung river in Taiwan, the airline's second crash in seven months.
In a statement, TransAsia Airways said that as of 9am on Thursday, another 15 people were injured in the incident. Twelve people remain missing from the 58 people on board flight GE235, and the two people in the taxi clipped by the plane are still hospitalised.
The airline has also started giving out emergency relief funds of NT$200,000 (S$8,600) to the families of those affected, including those on board and those who were on 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.
TransAsia President Fred Wu also refuted media reports that said the plane's engines had not gone through the necessary checks before the flight took off on Wednesday.
"With regard to the engines, we are clarifying that there is no issue (with the engine checks)," said Mr Wu. "I can also produce the documents that were signed by the pilots and our crew that day. We will send these original documents to the Civil Aeronautics Administration and they can investigate this."
Source: Channel News Asia
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