TransAsia plane crashes in Taiwan river - rolling coverage

                       These images were captured as the plane careered over an elevated road

At least 13 people are reported killed after a regional airliner with 58 on board came down in Keelung river in Taipei. A further 18 are injured and 31 are missing.

TransAsia Airways #GE235 was a flight from Taipei to Kinmen. It crashed less than 3 minutes after take off 

9:44 AM - 4 Feb 2015

Rescuers on boats have cut it open to gain access to people trapped inside.

Officials say 18 people have suffered injuries, with some taken to hospital. Thirty one people remain unaccounted for.

Cindy Sui reports: ''Many of the people on board are still inside the aircraft''

The ATR-72 turbo-prop plane had just taken off from Taipei Songshan Airport and was heading to the outlying Kinmen islands, just off the coast of the south-eastern Chinese city of Xiamen, CNA said.

Flight controllers lost contact with the plane at 10:55 local time (02:55 GMT).

Footage of the plane filmed from inside passing cars showed it banking sharply, hitting a taxi and clipping the bridge before crashing into the river.

Television footage showed survivors wearing life jackets wading and swimming clear of wreckage. Others, including a young child, were taken to shore by rescuers.

                            Of the 58 people on board 53 are believed to be passengers

                             The military is helping in the rescue effort

Emergency rescue officials in inflatable boats crowded around the partially submerged fuselage of flight GE235, lying on its side in the river, trying to help those on board.

At least 13 people were killed, with 18 others injured and 30 still unaccounted for, Taiwan’s state-owned Central News Agency reported. Other Taiwanese government authorities said the plane was carrying 58 passengers and crew, including 31 tourists from mainland China.

The Mirror described the taxi driver whose cab was clipped by the plane as the “luckiest man alive”.

The plane appeared to miss apartment buildings by metres. Footage showed a van skidding to a halt on the damaged overpass after barely missing the plane’s wing, with small pieces of the aircraft scattered along the road.

Some were then placed on stretchers and taken to hospital. But officials said some passengers were still trapped inside the wreckage which appeared to be upside down and broken into many parts in the river.

"We're asking the public works department for heavy cranes to be deployed, in the hopes that the body of the plane can be lifted up," said Wu Jun-Hong, assistant director of Taipei's fire department.

"At the moment, we think a lot of the trapped people are in the head of the plane."

The BBC's Cindy Sui in Taipei says the Chinese tourists could have been on their way home as many people come to Taiwan through Kinmen island.

The chief executive of TransAsia, Chen Xinde, offered a "deep apology" to passengers and crew on board in a televised news conference, Reuters news agency reported. - Reuters