TransAsia Airways plane with 53 passengers crashes into a river

A PASSENGER plane with 58 people on board plunged into a river after hitting a bridge outside Taiwan"s capital, with 27 people rescued and others trapped inside.

The TransAsia ATR 72-600 turboprop plane was on a domestic flight when it hit a road bridge before ploughing into the Keelung River in New Taipei City, Taiwan.

Rescuers are still trying to reach the trapped passengers.

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.

The number of fatalities are unclear, but Taiwanese media have reported that up to nine people may have perished, as aviation authority director Lin Chi-ming told a news conference that two people had been killed. Central News Agency says three people were killed.

There were five crew members and two passengers were children.

Taiwan TV news outlets have also released the names of those on board.

Taiwanese broadcasters are also reporting that at least three people have not been accounted for.

Terrifiying images have emerged of how the plane went off course before it hit the bridge and then crashed into the river.

More footage of the plane from a driver"s dashcam has also revealed how the plane came down, missing nearby motorists before it hit the water.

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.

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.

The aeroplane was flying to the offshore island of Kinmen and had only just left Taipei Songshan Airport when the accident happened.

TransAsia, a privately-owned airline, had suffered a serious crash last July, when flight GE222 crashed near the airport at Magong on the Penghu island chain during a rainstorm, killing 48 people and injuring 10 others. That aircraft was also an ATR-72.

The airline is based in Taiwan and has been operating as a commercial carrier since 1951. It flies generally local services but has expanded to fly more inteational routes recently. The company is currently owned by Golden Development & Construction Co Ltd.