Taiwan plane crash-lands in river

A plane carrying mostly Chinese tourists has crashed into a river in Taiwan, killing at least 16 people.

Dramatic video footage emerged showing the TransAsia Airways plane clipping a bridge as it came down shortly after take-off from a Taipei airport.

The plane, carrying 58 people, has broken up and the fuselage is lying half-submerged in the Keelung River. Rescue efforts are ongoing.

Another TransAsia plane crashed in bad weather last July, killing 48 people.

Cindy Sui reports: ''Many of the people on board are still inside the aircraft''

Rescuers on boats have cut the plane open to gain access, attempting to access passengers reportedly trapped in the front section of the fuselage.

TransAsia said in a statement that one passenger had already been discharged from hospital, but the number of survivors was unclear.

The ATR-72 turbo-prop plane had just taken off from Taipei Songshan Airport and was heading to the Kinmen islands, just off the coast of the south-eastern Chinese city of Xiamen.

Reports suggested that the final communication from one of the pilots had been "Mayday, mayday, engine flame out" and that the plane had stalled as a result of the engine failure.

Flight controllers lost contact with the plane at 10:55 local time (02:55 GMT).

Footage of the plane filmed from inside passing cars showed it banking sharply, hitting a taxi and clipping the bridge before crashing into the river.

"I saw a taxi, probably just metres ahead of me, being hit by one wing of the plane," an eyewitness told local media.

"The plane was huge and really close to me. I'm still trembling."

Reports on the number of dead varied, with many citing numbers higher than the 16 confirmed by TransAsia.

TV footage showed rescuers standing on large sections of broken wreckage trying to pull passengers out of the plane with ropes.

Those that were rescued were helped into dinghies and taken to shore.

The plane's flight data recorders, also known as black boxes, have been recovered. Footage from the crash site showed them in a car belonging to the rescue services.

But officials said some passengers were still trapped inside the wreckage, which appeared to be upside down.

"We're asking the public works department for heavy cranes to be deployed in the hope that the body of the plane can be lifted up," said Wu Jun-Hong, assistant director of Taipei's fire department.

"At the moment, we think a lot of the trapped people are in the head of the plane."