Engine ‘did not feel right,’ passenger says
At least 32 dead after turboprop crashes into river
Taipei • From the start of the flight in Taiwan’s capital, Huang Jin-sun suspected trouble.
“There was some sound next to me. It did not feel right shortly after takeoff. The engine did not feel right,” the 72-year-old man told ETTV television Thursday from his hospital bed.
He was one of the 15 who survived when the TransAsia Airways turbojet carrying 58 people crashed Wednesday into a river minutes after taking off. At least 32 died and 11 are still missing.
Moments before the plane crashed, one of its pilots told the control tower, “Mayday, mayday, engine flameout,” said an aviation official who asked not to be identified.
“Engine flameout” refers to flames being extinguished in the combustion chamber of the engine, so it shuts down and no longer drives the propeller. Causes could include a lack of fuel or being struck by volcanic ash, a bird or some other object.
The airline and the Taiwan Civil Aeronautical Administration have declined to speculate on the cause of the crash, the latest in a series of disasters befalling Asian airlines.
The ATR 72-600 plane, less than a year old, had one of its engines replaced by Pratt & Whitney Canada last April before it went into service because of a glitch with the original engine.
The plane’s black boxes were recovered overnight and are likely to provide more clues.
Video images of Flight 235’s final moments in the air captured on car dashboard cameras appear to show the left engine’s propeller at standstill as the aircraft turned sharply, its wings becoming vertical and clipping a highway bridge before plunging into the Keelung River.
Mr. Huang said he helped four other passengers unbuckle their seatbelts after the plane crashed and began sinking.
“I saw others were drowning,” he said. “If I did not move quickly enough to help them, soon they would be dead.”
Also among the survivors was a family of three, including a two-year-old boy whose heart stopped beating after three minutes under water. He recovered after receiving CPR, said his uncle Lin Ming-yi.
The pilots’ actions in the flight’s final moments have led to speculation they attempted to avoid highrise buildings by following the line of the river, then banking sharply in an attempt to bring the plane down in the water, rather than crashing on land.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je praised pilot Liao Chien-tsung as a hero for his actions.
“We really have to thank that pilot,” Mr. Ko said. “He really tried his hardest.”
Divers searched the river Thursday for the missing 11, including the two pilots. A crane was used to bring the rear section of the plane to the shore Wednesday.
Police diver Cheng Yingchih said the search was hampered by low visibility in the turbid river and cold water temperatures that forced divers to work in one-hour shifts.
By midday Th u r s d a y, about a dozen relatives of Taiwanese victims arrived at the riverbank to perform traditional mourning rituals. Accompanied by Buddhist monks ringing brass bells, they bowed toward the water and held aloft cloth inscriptions tied to pieces of bamboo meant to guide the spirits of the dead to rest.
Relatives of some of the 31 passengers from mainland China reached Taipei on a charter flight Thursday afternoon.
Taiwan President Ma Yingjeou visited two Taipei hospitals Thursday to check on the condition of people injured in the crash and stopped by a morgue to comfort relatives of the victims.
“This kind of air safety incident not only wrecks countless happy families but also affects trust in our tourism climate among tourists from outside Taiwan,” his office said in a statement.
“We must undergo this bitter experience and make allout improvements.”