TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) – A plane landing in stormy weather crashed outside an airport on a small Taiwanese island late Wednesday, and the transport minister said 47 people were trapped and feared dead.
Another 11 people were injured when the ATR-72 operated by Taiwan’s TransAsia Airways crashed on Penghu, an island in the Taiwan Strait between Taiwan and China, Transport Minister Yeh Kuang-shih was quoted as saying by the government’s Central News Agency. The plane was arriving from Kaohsiung, a city in southern Taiwan.
The twin-engine turboprop plane crashed while making a second landing attempt with a total of 58 passengers and crew members aboard, according to Yeh.
The news agency had earlier quoted a local fire chief as saying 51 people had been killed.
The plane crashed in the village of Xixi outside the airport. Photos in local media showed firefighters using flashlights to look at wreckage in the darkness, and buildings and cars damaged by debris.