Survivor of Taiwan crash pulled herself out of wreckage

HONG KONG — Survivor Hung Yu-ting had suffered burns on her back and legs in the aftermath of the TransAsia Airways crash on the Taiwanese island of Penghu that killed 48 people. But despite having been trapped underneath the seats of the plane, Ms Hung was able to safely extricate herself and run to a nearby house to call for help from her father, the South China Morning Post reported yesterday.

The ATR-72 operated by the Taiwanese airline was carrying 58 passengers and crew when it crashed near the village of Xixi, while trying to land in the Penghu island chain — which lies in the Taiwan Strait between Taiwan and China — late on Wednesday. Ten people were injured. The plane was flying from Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan.

Ms Hung was a Penghu resident and was returning home after her conference in Kaohsiung was cancelled. “She told me ‘the plane crashed’ and sounded weak over the phone,” the Post quoted Ms Hung’s father as saying, citing a report by Central News Agency.

Ms Hung’s father said he then drove to the crash site, where he helped another man to escape from the wreckage. Ms Hung was not the only one who managed to save herself. Reports said other survivors were able to pull themselves out from underneath the wreckage and had made similar calls for help by borrowing mobile phones. The mother of another survivor told the Taiwanese news agency she heard the news about the crash from her daughter. “My daughter called me. She said ‘Mum, my plane crashed’.”

Some Penghu residents told the Central News Agency that they heard what sounded like thunder going off before an explosion. “I heard a loud bang. I thought it was thunder, and then I heard another bang and I saw a fireball not far away from my house,” a resident told broadcaster TVBS.

Five people on the ground suffered injuries, the airline said. Taiwan’s last major aviation disaster was also near Penghu. In 2002, a China Airlines Boeing 747 broke apart in midair and crashed into the Taiwan Strait, killing all 225 people aboard. Agencies