TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) – Divers have pulled four more bodies from a shallow river where a TransAsia Airways propjet crashed shortly after takeoff from Taiwan’s capital. That raises the confirmed death toll to 35.
A group of relatives gathered on the riverbank wailed in anguish Friday as the bodies were brought out. Helicopters helped to scan the river for eight people still missing. Fifteen survived the crash with injuries.
Taiwan’s Vice President Wu Den-yih went to a Taipei funeral parlor for a prayer sessions to pay respects to the victims, many of whom were from mainland China.
Wu expressed condolences and praised the pilot Liao Chien-chung, who died in the crash Wednesday morning.
The pilots are believed to have deliberately steered the plane away from buildings in the final moments after reporting engine trouble.