At least 26 people have been confirmed dead after a TransAsia flight crashed into the Keelung River in Taiwan on Wednesday.

TransAsia Crash Into Taiwan River Caught On Tape

The plane, a twin-engine ATR-72, had 58 people on board, including passengers and crew, when it clipped a nearby highway before crashing into the river, leaving the plane half submerged in water.

Multiple drivers in the area caught the entire crash on tape, and the plane can clearly be seen descending in the direction of the highway, seemingly out of control. It hit a taxi with its wing before hitting a highway bridge and crashing into the river. According to The Guardian, the taxi driver is currently in the hospital with a head injury and a concussion, but is stable.

26 Declared Dead, 17 Still Missing

Flight GE235 reportedly crashed just minutes after taking off from Songshan Airport in Taipei, and rescuers were quick to arrive on the scene. Fifteen survivors were rescued out of the water, and 26 people have been confirmed dead. However, rescuers are still searching for the remaining 17 aboard the flight who are considered missing. Rescuers searched into the night after using a crane to move the fuselage out of the water and onto the riverbank, but the pollution in the water has made searching difficult.

“The water is not clean, rescuers cannot see clearly underwater…The most important thing now is to drag the plane to the bank. They will dive into the water,” a fire rescue team member told reporters.

It is unclear what caused the crash. Zhiming Ling, the bureau chief of TransAsia, said that the plane had passed safety inspections on Jan. 26 and was not even a year old. The black boxes have been recovered, and reports suggest that the pilot had radioed into air traffic controllers reporting “engine flameout.”

TransAsia Chief Chen Xinde offered a “deep apology” at a news conference after the crash and emphasized the safety of the planes, saying, “Both our planes and our flight safety system are following strict regulations, so we also want to know what caused the new plane model to crash, but I don’t want to speculate.”

This marks the airline’s second fatal crash in seven months. In July, a TransAsia plane crashed, causing the death of 49 people. Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics Administration has ordered TransAsia to check every one of their ATR-72 planes before they are used again.

Article by Olivia Truffaut-Wong

Olivia Truffaut-Wong was born and raised in Berkeley, California, where she developed her love of all things entertainment. After moving to New York City to earn her degree in Film Studies, she stayed on the East Coast to follow her passion and become an entertainment writer. She lives on a diet of television, movies and food.