TransAsia Tragedy: Relatives of Victims Pray at Crash Site
Search crews are working to remove the remaining bodies from river.
— -- Relatives of some of the 31 people killed in Wednesday's TransAsia Airways tragedy in Taiwan arrived at the crash site Thursday, paying their respects to the lives lost.
The relatives stood along the bank of the Keelung River, praying. Some people cried as they viewed the wreckage for the first time.
Search crews worked to remove the remaining bodies from the river Thursday, but visibility in the water was reduced, with mud and a fast current making it difficult to establish a search grid. Twenty people remain missing, with 15 others injured in the accident.
Footage of the jet’s descent was captured on dashcam video from Taiwan’s National Freeway No. 1. The plane could be seen veering sharply, with the wing striking a vehicle and barrier before careening into the river.
Moments before the jet banked sharply and crashed into the river, one of its pilots said, “Mayday, mayday, engine flameout,” according to a Taiwanese aviation official.
Taiwan's Civil Aeronautical Administration released a snippet of audio including the pilot's mayday call. An agency official who declined to be named confirmed the mayday distress call on Thursday but did not say how it might relate to a cause for the crash.
Both the administration and the airline, Taipei-based TransAsia Airways, declined to speculate on causes for the crash at about 10:55 a.m. near the capital city's downtown airport. The plane's black box was found overnight. The pilots' bodies have not yet been recovered.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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