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Taiwan plane crash kills dozens

July 23, 2014

Taiwanese media reports say a plane has crashed in a failed emergency landing in the city of Magong. Dozens of people were reported to have died and several to have been injured.

https://p.dw.com/p/1ChER
Rescue personnel survey the wreckage of TransAsia Airways flight GE222 on Taiwan's offshore island of Penghu, July 23, 2014. REUTERS/Wong Yao-wen
Image: Reuters

Forty-seven people were killed on Wednesday in a plane crash on the one of the Penghu Islands off Taiwan's coast, officials said, revising downwards an earlier toll of 51.

Eleven injured people were taken to hospital, the government said.

Taiwan's Central News Agency reported that the plane, a turboprop ATR Model 72, appeared to have crashed after attempting to make an emergency landing in stormy weather in the city of Magong.

The Civil Aviation Administration was quoted as saying the plane was carrying 54 passengers and four crew members on a domestic flight from Kaohsiung operated by Taiwan's TransAsia Airways.

Taiwan was hit by Typhoon Matmo on Wednesday, bringing heavy rains and strong winds.

The airline flies mostly domestic routes, but also has Japan, Thailand and Cambodia among its destinations.

The Penghu Islands are also known as the Pescadores.

tj/mkg (AP, dpa, Reuters)