Update | Taiwanese officials defend letting TransAsia plane fly in wake of typhoon after 48 die in crash
Aircraft ploughs into village and bursts into flames on resort island of Penghu after pilot attempts to make an emergency landing
Taiwanese officials on Thursday defended flight clearance given to a plane which crashed while trying to land during stormy weather, killing 48 people.
Flight GE222 was carrying 54 passengers and four crew members on a domestic flight when it crashed on Wednesday at Magong on the Penghu island chain, with 10 surviving the disaster.
Two French medical students were among the dead, the foreign ministry in Paris said.
Reports that one of the victims was from Hong Kong, circulated by Taiwanese media, were later denied by the Hong Kong Economic, Trade and Cultural Office in Taiwan.
The ATR 72-500 was flying from the southwestern city of Kaohsiung to the islands off the west coast and had been delayed by bad weather as Typhoon Matmo pounded Taiwan, according to authorities.
It was trying to land for a second time after aborting the first attempt during thunder and heavy rain, crashing into two houses near Magong airport and injuring five people on the ground, officials said.
