Another TransAsia Airways ATR-72 has crashed in a Taiwan river

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February 04, 2015

Transasia ATR-72 has crashed landed in a Taipai river making it the second crash for the airline in just eight months.

Fifty eight passengers and crew were aboard flight GE235 when it crashed into the Keelung river at 10.56am local time.  

While reports are mixed, it seems there are at least 15 injured but rescued passengers, 12 passengers still  missing and 31 that have been pronounced dead. 

The planes black box has already been retrieved meaning investigators can start work on figuring out how this tragedy occured.

The AFP reported flight GE235 had just taken off at 10.52am localtime from Taipei Songshan Airport and was headed to Kinmen Airport on the outskirts of Taiwan when the pilots declared a “Mayday” telling air traffic controllers they had suffered an engine flameout.

Terrifying footage from a dashcam (see below) shows the aircraft hitting a road bridge before ploughing into the river.  

It is understood that one or both engines lost power,”mayday mayday, engine malfunction’ the pilot told air traffic controllers.

The ATR72, like all commercial planes, is designed to take-off and fly with the loss of an engine. The pilots turned the plane to the right to avoid hitting buildings, before it hit the road bridge crashing into the KeelungRiver.

In July 2014 another incident involving a TransAsia ATR-72  caused the death of 48 people when it crashed amid stormy weather in Taiwan’s Penghu archipelago.In the previous 20 years the airline has suffered six crashes of which four involved fatalities. 

Privately owned TransAsia was formed in 1951 and mainly flies domestic services but has recently expended to some international destinations