45 feared dead in Taiwan plane crash

Forty-five people are feared dead after a passenger plane operated by TransAsia Airways crashed on the outlying island county of Penghu on Wednesday.

Nine others are injured, in an initial report by Focus Taiwan.

The local fire department was reported saying that the 45 had no life signs after the twin-engine turboprop ATR 72 crashed just outside Magong airport around 7 p.m.

The flight, coded GE 222, took off at 5 p.m. in Kaohsiung and was scheduled to land at Magong 35 minutes later.

The reason the crash happened over an hour later has yet to be determined.