The cause of the crash of TransAsia Airways Corp. Flight 235, which carried 58 people, remains undetermined. Taiwan's Aviation Safety Council said data from the plane's recorder is being analyzed, and an initial assessment is expected to be released in the next two days.
Authorities said 31 people died, with 15 injured and 12 passengers, all Chinese nationals, still missing. The plane departed Taipei Songshan Airport, which is located in the capital, and was en route to the outlying island of Kinmen on Wednesday morning. According to the Civil Aeronautics Administration, the control tower lost communication with the cockpit four minutes after takeoff.
The aviation authority on Thursday confirmed to The Wall Street Journal that a recording of an exchange between air traffic control and the plane on which a distress call can be heard is the last communication between the pilot and the control tower before the crash. The recording, in which a pilot can be heard saying "Mayday mayday, engine flameout," was released Wednesday by an independent website that monitors air traffic control communications.
A CAA official declined to confirm the name of the pilot whose voice is heard. The official said any interpretation of the recording must be done by the Aviation Safety Council, which is responsible for the investigation.
Rescuers worked Thursday to recover bodies and wreckage from the river where the plane went down. Street vendors set up food stalls near the site to offer free hot drinks and food to the rescue workers. Several government agencies canceled Lunar New Year dinners. Both of Taiwan's major political parties also called off campaign activities ahead of the coming legislative by-elections.
It was TransAsia's second deadly crash in seven months.
At a memorial service Thursday, Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je paid respect to the pilot, Liao Chien-chung, who died in the crash. Mr. Ko said the pilot saved thousands of lives by directing the plane away from a bustling area in its descent path—including a subway station, a hospital, a busy highway and Nankang Software Park, which houses a cluster of technology companies.
"This accident is a tragedy, but we must thank the pilot who did his best," Mr. Ko said at a news conference.
Mr. Liao, 41 years old, had more than 4,900 flight hours before the crash, the CAA said. His aunt, who didn't provide her name, said that Mr. Liao, the son of night market vendors in southern Taiwan, had long dreamed of becoming a pilot.
"Ever since he was little, he has been a strong person. The Liao family is very poor so he had to take care of everything by himself," she said. She said her nephew always reminded his mother to keep warm during winter. "In fact, she is wearing the jacket that he bought for her," she added.
Among the survivors was a family of three, the Lins. Lin Ming-yi, a brother of the family who wasn't on the plane, said that shortly before takeoff, his brother Lin Ming-wei asked to switch to a group of seats in another row. Those seats were near where the plane broke when it crashed, which allowed the family to quickly escape and get to the surface of the river after the crash, Lin Ming-yi said.
Chen Ming-chung, a businessman who survived the crash, also switched seats before takeoff, a decision that saved his life, according to his wife, Shih Chiu-mei, who wasn't on the plane. "He was at 18B and switched over to 17D on the other side of the plane, the part of the plane that wasn't immersed in the water when the plane crashed into the river," she said.
Wang Qinghuo, a tour guide from Quanzhou, in the eastern Chinese province of Fujian, was among those who died in the crash. Sunday was supposed to be Mr. Wang's wedding day. He was born in 1988, according to the verified microblog of the state-owned Jiangxi Daily newspaper, and he graduated from Jiujiang University, in neighboring Jiangxi province.
Also among the dead were two sisters, Yu Xueying, 43 years old, and her sister Yu Xuemei, 46, both educators.
Xueying, the younger sister, who taught Chinese to high-school students, moved from Shanghai to the northeastern city of Dalian about a decade ago to be closer to her parents, according to a report in the Liaoshen Evening News, a Liaoning province newspaper. The older sister, Xuemei, was a teacher in Harbin, another city in northeastern China where she was a deputy professor in the architectural engineering department at Heilongjiang University.
Aviation Safety Council Spokesman Thomas Wang said that, in line with international practice, Chinese investigators could join the investigation in Taiwan, as many of the passengers are Chinese nationals, but China hasn't decided. Xinhua News Agency reported that Chinese President Xi Jinping has pledged to provide assistance in treating the injured passengers.
Mr. Wang added that six investigators from French air accident investigation bureau, the BEA, and the plane maker Avions de Transport Regional would join the probe Thursday in Taipei, and six others from Canada would arrive Friday.
Source: Wall Street Journal by Jenny W. Hsu
from China Travel & Tourism News http://ift.tt/1iB6EFm
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