Taiwan plane was trying second landing

Taipei: The TransAsia Airways flight that smashed into two houses near Magong airport on the Penghu islands crashed after requesting a second attempt to land at the airport.

The twin turboprop plane was flying from the southwestern city of Kaohsiung to the islands and had been delayed due to bad weather as Typhoon Matmo pounded Taiwan, according to the authorities.

TV images showed firefighters working in heavy rain to douse the mangled plane and soldiers.

“There were 58 people on board including four crew members, four children and, so far, according to the information we have, 12 were injured and were sent to hospitals while 46 were missing,” Transport Minister Yeh Kuang-shih told reporters.

“We are not clear about the situation of the 46 people although more than 10 bodies have been found and the search continues,” he said, adding that the cause of the crash was being investigated.

Two French nationals were on board the plane and the de facto French embassy had been notified, Yeh said.There were no immediate report of casualties on the ground.

Taiwan's Civil Aeronau-tics Administration director general Shen Chi earlier said 51 were feared dead in the crash, but later revised the figure to 47.

“The control tower lost contact with the aircraft soon after they requested a go-around (second attempt to land),” Shen told reporters. The plane had requested a second attempt to land at just after 1100 GMT.