A RESCUE operation is underway for passengers trapped after a TransAsia Airways plane, with 58 people on board, crashed and sunk. Credit: TVBS.

A RESCUE operation is underway for passengers trapped after a TransAsia Airways plane, with 58 people on board, crashed and sunk. Credit: TVBS.

UPDATE: The death toll in the TransAsia air crash has risen to 31, Taiwan’s official news agency CNA reports.

It comes after the passenger plane carrying 58 people — two of them children — plunged into a river after clipping a road bridge near Taiwan’s capital.

As the rescue operation continued into the night, a crane lifted the rear and central sections of TransAsia ATR 72-600 from the water, with one body retrieved from inside.

15 people were injured in the crash, while another 12 are missing. Earlier, it was believed 17 people were trapped in the front section of the plane, which was still in the water.

TransAsia said 16 survivors had been pulled out of the wreckage after the turboprop plane crashed with 58 people onboard, five of them crew.

Cold weather, poor visibility and rising water levels were hampering the rescue, officials said, admitting they were now “not optimistic” about finding survivors.

Airline chief executive Peter Chen has apologised for the disaster as the plane’s black boxes were retrieved from the wreckage, which will help determine the cause of the crash.

Dramatic amateur video footage showed the plane hit an elevated road as it banked sidelong towards the Keelung River in New Taipei City, Taiwan, leaving a trail of debris including a smashed taxi.

“I saw a taxi, probably just metres ahead of me, being hit by one wing of the plane. The plane was huge and really close to me. I’m still trembling,” one witness told TVBS news channel.

In a recording thought to be the final message from the cockpit to the control tower, desperate crew can be heard shouting “Mayday! Mayday! Engine flame-out!”

Aviation officials said they had not released the cockpit recording, suggesting it may have come from amateurs monitoring the radio.

“Flame-outs” occur when the flame that normally burns in the engine goes out, causing engine failure. Twin-engined planes are usually able to fly on one engine.

CNA said the flight from Taipei to the outlying island of Kinmen lost contact with flight controllers at 10.55am local time.

At least 170 emergency staff have been deployed — including ambulances, fire engines and watercraft — to assist in the rescue operation.

Television images showed rescuers standing on large sections of broken wreckage trying to pull passengers out of the plane with ropes. Those who were rescued — including two children — were put in dinghies and taken to the shore.

Some were then loaded on stretchers and all 27 rescued have been taken to hospital, reports said.

Six airline officials including chief executive Peter Chen bowed in apology at a televised press conference.

“We would like to convey our apologies to the families (of the victims) and we’d also like to voice huge thanks to rescuers who have been racing against time,” said Chen.

Officials said those missing are thought to be trapped inside the submerged front section of the plane.

“The focus of our work is to try to use cranes to lift the front part of the wreckage, which is submerged under the water and is where most of the other passengers are feared trapped,” a senior rescue official told reporters at the scene.

There has been no official comment on the cause of the crash, but the black boxes have been retrieved.

The plane was being flown by pilot Liao Jianzong and copilot Liu Zizhong, and a third trainee pilot called Hong Binzhong.

The pilot had nearly 5000 hours of flight experience while his copilot had nearly 7000 hours.

About 16 of the Chinese passengers were with the Teyung Group, and the remainder with Flying Tours.

Local media have also released the names of those on board.

Parts of the wrecked fuselage of the turboprop ATR 72 jutted out of the Keelung River just a couple dozen metres from the shore near the city’s downtown Sungshan airport.

The main section of fuselage was on its side, missing a wing.

Rescuers clustered around the plane in rubber boats more than two hours after the crash, and could be seen pulling carry-on luggage from an open plane door.

The New Taipei City Fire Department has dispatched five rescue teams, equipped with speed boats, to the accident site near the Nanyang Bridge in Xizhi district, CNA said.

Taiwanese TV stations continue to broadcast live footage of rescue workers in life vests and yellow helmets surrounding the plane’s partially-submerged fuselage in inflatable rafts.

Since the crash, terrifying images have also emerged of how the plane went off course before it hit the bridge and then crashed into the river.

A RESCUE operation is underway for passengers trapped after a TransAsia Airways plane, with 58 people on board, crashed and sunk. Credit: TVBS. A RESCUE operation is underway for passengers trapped after a TransAsia Airways plane, with 58 people on board, crashed and sunk. Credit: TVBS.

The plane’s wing also hit a taxi, the driver of which was injured, on the freeway just before it crashed into the river, Taiwanese broadcaster TVBS reported.

The driver survived the incident and was taken to hospital for further medical treatment.

Hong Shiqi, head of medicine at the hospital, said the driver, who was named only as Mr Zhou, had recounted feeling “very scared”.

When he woke up, he felt severe pain in his eyes.

Mr Zhou has a history of heart problems and is being kept in the hospital for observation.

TransAsia Airways #GE235 was a flight from Taipei to Kinmen. It crashed less than 3 minutes after take off pic.twitter.com/Prpj1emK2y — Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) February 4, 2015

A TransAsia media office declined comment on possible reasons for the crash.

Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics Administration also was also unable to discuss possible causes of the crash.

TransAsia’s history of plane crashes

TransAsia Airways was involved in another fatal crash less than a year ago, while attempting to land at Magong Airport on July 23.

Forty-seven of the 58 people on board the ATR-72-500 were killed, and seven seriously injured when the plane crashed at the end of the runway and slid into residential buildings.

Prior to that, the Taiwan based airline was involved in a runway collision with a truck in March 2003.

All 175 passengers and crew survived the incident at Tainan Airport when the truck trespassed the tarmac into the path of the A320.

In December 2002, a cargo flight operated by TransAsia crashed killing the two crew when severe icing disabled the main components of the ATR-72-200.

Owned by Goldsun Constructions and Development in Taiwan, TransAsia has a fleet of 23 aircraft and flies to 33 domestic and international destinations.

The airline has been operating as a commercial carrier since 1951. The company is currently owned by Golden Development & Construction Co Ltd.

Chinese authorities have set up a hotline for families concerned their relatives may have been on the plane, which is 0592-7227777 from mainland China.