Death toll from Taiwan's TransAsia Aiwarys plane crash jumped to 32 with 11 people still missing Thursday, the Taipei-based Central News Agency reported.
The TransAsia flight GE235 carrying 58 people crashed into a river in Taipei before on Wednesday morning after hitting an elevated bridge. 15 injured survivors included three Chinese citizens while the remainder were Taiwanese.
The ATR-72 turbo-prop plane, with 53 passengers and five crew members on board, took off from Taipei Songshan Airport at 10:52 a.m. (0252 GMT) en route to the Kinmen Islands, but crashed 10 minutes late, the report said. Of the total passengers, 31 were Chinese tourists and 27 are Taiwanese.
The cause of crash was still unknown, although the plane's two black boxes -- its flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder -- were retrieved Wednesday. The fuselage and other parts of the plane, which was broken into three main pieces and burrowed into the riverbed, were pulled out of the river early Thursday. The ATR72-600 plane was produced by French-Italian aircraft manufacturer ATR. Its engines were supplied by a Canadian manufacturer. While investigators from France were scheduled to arrive in Taiwan later Thursday, others from Canada were expected to arrive the following day. The Civil Aeronautics Administration has ordered local carriers to ground the nation's total of 22 ATR72 planes pending inspections.
It was the second crash in half a year for TransAsia. Another ATR-72 carrying 58 people crashed last July, leaving 49 people dead. The aviation administration said the plane was less than a year old and completed its latest safety checks on January 26th.