225 feared dead in Taiwan crash

A China Airlines Boeing 747-200 with 225 passengers and crew on board crashed into the sea shortly after take-off on Saturday on way from Ta...

A China Airlines Boeing 747-200 with 225 passengers and crew on board crashed into the sea shortly after take-off on Saturday on way from Taiwan to Hong Kong. Search and rescue vessels picked up six bodies floating off the Taiwan-held Penghu islands, also known as the Pescadores, and spotted a cabin door, life vests and an oil slick, officials said.

Taiwan’s Cabinet spokes-man dismissed reports that over 100 bodies were recovered. TV networks later said over 100 bodies had been sighted by military aircraft and the Penghu fire chief said he was ‘‘not optimistic’’ about finding survivors.

Aviation authorities said the pilot had not issued any distress signals before the plane disappeared from radar screens about 20 minutes after take-off in clear weather.

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Speculation about a mid-air explosion was heightened by TV footage of farmers in the coastal county of Chang-hua, about 75 km from the crash site, holding up bits of foam padding and scraps of inflight magazine pages. Other debris included business cards, baggage check-in stubs and a photograph.

As night fell on Saturday, naval vessels with searchlights joined military aircraft and helicopters combing the sea . Ambulances stood by in Penghu’s fishing port, which was cordoned off. Empty yellow body bags were stacked in piles. The airline president said: ‘‘If it had been mechanical, the pilot would have had time to contact air control tower,’’ Wei Hsin-hsiung said.

Cabinet spokesman Chua-ng Suo-han said: ‘‘We won’t know if the plane exploded in mid-air till we find black box.’’ He said the Cabinet had formed an emergency team to deal with the situation.” (Reuters)