Taiwan rescuers continue search for missing passengers and crew

The death toll of the fatal Taiwan TransAsia Airway plane crash rose to 31 people Thursday while efforts continued to find those who are still missing.

As of 4 pm on Thursday, a total of 46 people of the 58 that were on board the plane have been found. The Taiwan Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) confirmed on Thursday morning that 31 people have died, including three crew members, 15 people have been injured and 12 are still missing.

Flight GE235, which was travelling from Taipei to Kinmen Island, was carrying 53 passengers, 31 of which were from the Chinese mainland. As of press time, of that 31, 18 were killed, three were injured and 10 have not yet been found.

The wreck of the aircraft, which had become lodged in a riverbed, has been hoisted out of the river. The plane's two engines and its two black boxes have been found.

Rescue teams and helicopters have been deployed to look for the missing people. Divers have also set up a net downstream in case anything had floated away after the crash.

The deputy director of the Xiamen tourism bureau, Chen Guilin, has also gone to Taiwan to check on the situation.

The Taiwan Aviation Safety Council said Thursday that as there were 31 Chinese mainland passengers on board, they have contacted an investigation team from the mainland to work jointly with them, making this the first time that the mainland and Taiwan have cooperated on a plane crash investigation.

TransAsia said in a statement Thursday that it has finished a thorough inspection of all its aircraft that were manufactured by ATR, the same company that made the downed aircraft, following an order from the CAA, which affected 30 of its domestic flights.

The airline said in its statement that it has given emergency relief funds of NT$200,000 ($6,346) to 12 people and funeral subsidies of NT$1,200,000 have been given to the families of the dead.

According to local media, the mainland passengers' journeys were booked through two tour companies, Sweet Tour and Fei Yang Travel.

A Sweet Tour staff member told the Global Times that the company had insured their travelers and compensation will be assigned.

The airplane crashed on Wednesday just minutes after it took-off at 10.53 am. It clipped a taxi on a motorway overpass and plummeted into Taipei's Keelung River, just seven months after the airline's last deadly plane accident. The cause of the crash is unclear.

Zhang Zhijun, the head of Chinese mainland's Taiwan Affairs Office, has postponed his visit to Taiwan that was scheduled to begin on February 7.

Wreckage of crashed aircraft recovered from water

The wreckage of a TransAsia Airways turboprop ATR 72-600 aircraft is recovered from a river, in New Taipei City, February 4, 2015.