The death toll from a TransAsia plane crash has reportedly risen to 31, a latest release from the Taiwan disaster emergency center said.
While the dead bodies of the pilot, co-pilot and a crew member were recovered from the water, two other passengers' bodies were discovered half a kilometre away from the crash site in the river, reported China Daily.
Meanwhile, 12 passengers are still missing as the rescue team continues operation to pull out passengers from the aircraft's submerged wreck.
About 15 survivors have been taken to nearby hospitals in Taipei and New Taipei City, local disaster relief authorities said. The plane's two black boxes have also been recovered and are likely to be deciphered by Wednesday night.
A massive crane was used by the rescue team to pull out three pieces of Flight GE235 including, the fuselage, tail and the nose, from the Keelung River, Taiwan's central news agency said.
Taiwanese TransAsia Airways flight, with more than 50 people onboard, hit a bridge and crashed into a river near the capital Taipei.
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The domestic flight ATR-72, carrying 53 passengers and five crew members, had just taken off from Taipei Songshan Airport and was headed to the outlying Kinmen islands, just off the coast of south-east China, Taiwan's Central News Agency (CAN) said.
CAN said that the plane lost contact with flight controllers before it crashed into Keelung River near the city's downtown Sungshan airport.
