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Keira Lu Huang

Lawrence  Chung

The survivors of Flight GE235 described last-minute decisions that may have saved their lives, the horrifying moments before the crash and pulling themselves from the wreckage.
"I thought I'd die," flight attendant Huang Ching-ya told her aunt, as she sobbed through an oxygen mask, the United Daily News reported.
It was her second brush with death. The 26-year-old was scheduled for a shift aboard the TransAsia flight that crashed in bad weather on Penghu Island last July. But her roster changed just before take-off.
Huang was severely injured when the ATR-72 twin-engine turboprop aircraft plunged into the Keelung River shortly after departing Taipei Songshan Airport on Wednesday.
The plane broke into several pieces, which were partially submerged in the river.
Huang crawled from the aircraft barely conscious, only to find water all around her. She was too distraught to say anything more, the News reported.
Her four co-workers aboard the flight were among the 31 people confirmed dead in the crash. Fifteen people survived, while another 12 remain missing.
Sitting not far from Huang was 38-year-old Lin Ming-wei from New Taipei City. He was taking a short trip to Quemoy with his wife and two-year-old son, and changed their seating just before the flight. His wife was sitting in 16B, on the left side of the plane, while he and their son were behind her. They joined her in the same row, but across the aisle, on the right side of the aircraft. Initial investigations have found the left side of the plane suffered serious damage. Lin felt it odd the plane was flying so low after take-off but the pilot was trying to gain altitude. He saw the plane bank sharply to the left and strike the bridge, before plunging into the river. "It was horrifying," Lin was quoted as saying. "I didn't think I'd survive."

After the crash, he helped his wife get free of her seat and then found his son upside down in the water, still in his seatbelt. He pulled him up and began to resuscitate him.
"I told myself I could not lose my son and kept performing CPR to bring him back" and he eventually regained consciousness, Lin was quoted by his brother as saying.
According to the Central News Agency (CNA), Lin was only slightly injured, but his wife suffered multiple fractures while his son had taken in water although was said to be awake. They both remain in hospital.
Light coming through a hole created by the tail breaking off guided survivors through the dark, water-filled cabin and allowed them to crawl out. It was the only exit for survivors in the last nine rows.
Also sitting in the back was 71-year-old Huang Chin-shun. His son told CNA that Huang unfastened the seatbelt when he felt something went wrong, which later allowed him to escape.
Watch: The moment TransAsia GE235 plane hits bridge and crashes in Taiwan

Another person who had a close call was the taxi driver on the highway the plane clipped just before crashing.
"It just felt like darkness, like black clouds, and then suddenly a huge white object appeared right in front of my eyes," CNA quoted Chou Hsi-tung, 52, as saying. "I only realised it was a plane after I got out of my car!" he said.
The boot of the taxi was smashed and its windshield was shattered.
Chou was covered in pieces of glass when taken to hospital, admitted with injuries to his eyes, the agency reported.
"I am still frightened," the driver said.
 


Litany of errors led to TransAsia Airways crash in Taiwan that killed 43: report

TransAsia Airways plane forced to land on one engine months after another of its aircraft crashed on same island in Taiwan

Pilot in crashed TransAsia flight shut down plane’s only working engine by mistake: Taiwan probe

Two more bodies recovered from crash site of TransAsia Flight GE235 in Taipei

TransAsia Airways Flight GE235

Flight GE235 passengers: 'It was horrifying, I didn't think I'd survive'

An injured passenger is helped to the riverbank. Photo: AFP

Heartbroken relatives arrive to take their loved ones home

A man consoles two women at the funeral for victims of the TransAsia Airways plane crash. Photo: EPA 

TransAsia crash survivors say last-minute seat change, strangers' help saved their lives

Relatives of victims of the TransAsia Airways crash pray on the banks of the Keelung River near the plane's wreckage yesterday. Photo: AP

Divers search waters near the crash site yesterday. Photo: Reuters

News

China

Passengers describe final moments before TransAsia flight slammed into Keelung River, and pulling themselves from the wreckage


The survivors of Flight GE235 described last-minute decisions that may have saved their lives, the horrifying moments before the crash and pulling themselves from the wreckage.


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