Current reports indicate that it carried 225
people... comprising 206 passengers and 19 crew-members. Last
reports form the crash site, in the waters off Taiwan, leaves
little hope of finding any survivors. The aircraft was a Boeing
747-200, registration number B18255. Delivered in 1979, the
aircraft was 22 years old.
The aircraft departed Taiwan's CKS airport at 1450 and was
scheduled to land in Hong Kong at 1645. The aircraft lost contact
when approaching the island of Penghu (a group of islands off
Taiwan’s western coast). Sources indicate that there were no
reports of trouble from the cockpit crew prior to the accident and
that the Boeing disappeared from radar screens about 20 minutes
after take-off. Weather was reported to be "clear."
The specter of a mid-air break-up or explosion has been promulgated
by TV footage showing farmers in the western coastal county of
Changhua, (about 47 miles from the crash site), holding up bits of
foam padding, baggage tags, and magazine pages bearing the China
Airline's logo.
China Airlines reports that "There were 19 crew members and 206
passengers including 3 infants on board the flight. In the
passenger list, there were 189 Taiwanese passengers, 14 Hong Kong
or Macau Chinese, 2 Singaporean and 1 European. The captain of the flight was Mr. Ching-Fong Yi
with 6128 flight hours. The co-pilot was Mr. Yea Shyong Shieh with
6244 flight hours and flight engineer Mr. Sen Kuo Chao with 18024
flight hours. Delivered in 1979, the aircraft is now 22.8 years old
and owned by China Airlines. The aircraft completed A check on May
3, B check on April 4 and construction C check on November 25,
2001." China Airlines has a checkered safety record though recent
efforts have been made to update the fleet's maintenance and safety
practices. China Airlines has been involved in at least nine
accidents since 1970 (and the fourth in less than a decade), the
last occurring in 1999 when an MD-11 was involved in a landing
accident with three fatalities.
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