A passenger plane has crashed after a failed emergency landing in Taiwan, killing most of the passengers on board.
The domestic TransAsia Airways flight crashed near Magong airport on the outlying Penghu island, reports the BBC.
There were a total of 54 passengers and four crew on board, Taiwan’s CNA news agency reported.
Latest reports say 48 people were killed and 10 were injured. Two French nationals were among the dead.
Earlier yesterday, Taiwan was battered by strong winds and rain from a tropical storm, Typhoon Matmo.
Typhoon Matmo had caused many flights to be cancelled but the land warning was lifted around 17:30 local time, around the time the plane took off, the BBC’s Cindy Sui in Taipei reports.
According to reports, the aircraft had aborted its first landing and was attempting a go-around when it went down in a village called Xixi, near the airport.
The plane had departed from the southern city of Kaohsiung but lost contact with controllers. It was a 14-year-old ATR 72-500, operating as flight GE222.
