CRI听力:Rescue Operation Continues after Taiwan Plane Crashes into River

Rescuers have been using a crane to hoist the wreckage of the TransAsia Airways plane from the Keelung River overnight.

Searchers are still scowering the river for the missing.

The flight, with 53 passengers and 5 crew onboard, went down around mid-day on Wednesday after clipping a bridge shortly after taking off from Taipei's Songshan Airport.

31 of those onboard were tourists from the mainland who were heading for Kinmen Island, which is a Taiwan-administered island lying just off the coast of the southeastern mainland city of Xiamen.

The mainland group was on trips organized by two travel agencies from Xiamen.

Liu Ruigang is working with one of the travel companies involved.

"We are now working in groups to handle information, receiving the relatives, dealing with their transportation applications and liaison work. We have informed all the relatives of what's happened."

Thirty-four relatives of the victims, along with officials with Xiamen's Tourism Bureau, are arriving in Taiwan today.

China's central leadership, including President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang, have send condolences to the victims' families, and are promising to provide any help necessary.

Wednesday's crash is the 2nd involving a TransAsia flight in the past 7-months.

Back in July, another TransAsia flight crashed while trying to land during a storm on Penghu Island off the coast of Taiwan, killing 48 people.

TransAsia chief Chen Xide, while offering an apology and condolences to the victims of Wednesday's crash, insists his company's planes have a good safety record.

"TransAsia has been under thorough scrutiny on flight safety management by civil aviation authorities since mid last year. Our planes and their flight safety system follow strict regulations, so we also want to know what caused this latest crash, but I cannot make any speculation at the moment."

The plane's flight data recorders have been recovered.

A recorded conversation between the pilot and air traffic control has already been made public.

In it, the pilot is heard calling for a mayday, saying he had an engine flame-out.

Taiwan's civil aviation authorities have grounded all twenty-two ATR-72 aircraft currently in-operation on the island until safety checks are performed.

France, where the aircraft is designed and built, is also sending over investigators to help with the probe.

For CRI, this is Qizhi.