Local media reports that more than 50 passengers were killed when a Transasia Airways flight crashed after making an emergency landing in Taiwan’s Penghu county.
The airline is based in Taiwan, has 23 planes and operates a few dozen international routes (mostly to China) along with many short-haul domestic flights.
Transasia international routes
Update: Casualty reports are mixed with some saying 40 people were onboard. The flight number was 6702 and was landing on one of the Penghu islands.
“It’s chaotic on the scene,” Jean Shen, director of the civil aviation authorities, told Reuters. “The fire department was putting out the flames. They will give us the number of casualties very soon.”
A potential cause or factor may have been Typhoon Matmo, which hit the islands today.
Update 2: We have a report from reader Xin in Taiwan who relays that “The plane didn’t crash on landing. It made a landing attempt and failed (bad weather we have a Typhoon today), so it aborted to go round again. A few minutes later ATC lost contact with it and it crashed in Hushi (A small town) crashing into 2 houses in the process.”
Update 3: The initial reports said more than 50 but it’s now believed 47 people were onboard.
