Body of last victim of Taiwan plane crash found

World Today

Search teams continue to probe for missing persons in the commercial plane crash in Taipei, Taiwan, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2015. TransAsia Airways Flight 235 with 58 people aboard clipped a bridge shortly after takeoff and crashed into a river in the island’s capital of Taipei last Wednesday morning. (AP Photo/Wally Santana)

Rescue workers recovered the body of the last unaccounted passenger Thursday afternoon from the Taiwan flight that crashed last week, nine days after the fatal plane crash that killed 43.

The body of Chen Rentai, a tourist from the Chinese mainland, was recovered in waters below a bridge near the crash site, ending the search and rescue efforts for the crash, according to Taiwan’s disaster response center.

There were 15 survivors. Of the 31 tourists from the Chinese mainland who were aboard the plane bound for Kinmen, 28 died.

The 72-seat ATR72-600 turboprop passenger plane crashed into the Keelung River in Taipei shortly after takeoff from Songshan Airport at 10:52 a.m on Wednesday last week.

The exact cause of the crash remains unclear, but initial analysis of the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder by the Aviation Safety Council showed the right engine of the plane flashed a warning signal just 37 seconds after takeoff and pilots manually cut the fuel supply to the left engine, leading to a loss of power in both engines before the plane went down.

This story is compiled with information from Xinhua News.