TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) - Taiwan's aviation authority says at least nine people are dead after a TransAsia commercial flight with 58 people aboard clipped a bridge shortly after takeoff and crashed into a river in the island's capital of Taipei.
The Central News Agency (CNA) in Taiwan posted pictures of the plane in the water several dozen meters (yards) from the shore in the Keelung River.
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REUTERS/Pichi Chuang
Rescuers pull a passenger out of the TransAsia Airways plane which crash landed in a river in New Taipei City, February 4, 2015.
It may be one of the first times a commercial jet was captured on clear dashboard cam video before crashing.
Dashcam captures incredible image of TransAsia flight GE235 crash landing http://t.co/kPMgkNUTwG pic.twitter.com/vPwvoP144m
- Popular Mechanics (@PopMech) February 4, 2015
The BBC reports footage from the dashcams of several passing cars captured the plane banking wildly, then clipping a bridge before plunging into the river.
CNA said the flight from Taipei to the outlying island of Kinmen lost contact with flight controllers at 10:55 a.m. local time and the fuselage landed in the Keelung River near the city's downtown Sungshan airport.
The crash comes nearly a month before the 1-year anniversary of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which dropped off radar on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing last March.