China Airline 747-200 crash - TPE-HKG - no survivors

[daa]

http://www.msnbc.com/news/757270.asp

A China Airlines flight from Taipei to Hong Kong crashed Saturday in the Taiwan Strait with 225 passengers and crew on board. There were no immediate reports of survivors

[tycoonjack]

Taiwan airliner crashes into sea

Officials say there is little hope of finding survivors after a Taiwanese airliner carrying 225 people crashed into the sea on its way to Hong Kong.

The Boeing 747-200 belonging to the national carrier China Airlines disappeared from radar screens near the Taiwanese island of Penghu at 0730 GMT, shortly after leaving the capital Taipei.

One Taiwanese TV report said a mid-air explosion may have occurred - but this has not been confirmed, and airline officials said no distress signals were recorded.

[dbaker]

Rescuers Scour Sea for Taiwan Air Crash Victims

PENGHU, Taiwan (Reuters) - Searchers scoured the sea for survivors through the night after a China Airlines Boeing 747-200 with 225 passengers and crew aboard crashed shortly after take-off from Taiwan for Hong Kong Saturday.

Speculation about a mid-air explosion was heightened by television footage of farmers in the western coastal county of Changhua, about 47 miles from the crash site, holding up bits of foam padding and scraps of inflight magazine pages bearing the airline's logo.

[dbaker]

Taiwan Plane Broke Up in Mid-Air, Bodies Recovered

TAIPEI/PENGHU (Reuters) - Taiwan officials were investigating Sunday why a China Airlines plane broke into four pieces and plunged into the sea, killing all 225 people on board, in Asia's third major air crash in six weeks.

We are very certain the plane disintegrated while above 30,000 feet," Kay Yong, managing director of the cabinet's Aviation Safety Council, told a news conference.

The break-up of the aircraft, bound for Hong Kong from Taipei, had been suspected since farmers on the west coast of Taiwan, 47 miles from the crash site, had found plane debris in their fields.

The official statement added to the mystery over exactly what happened to flight CI 611.