The lead insurer and broker for the TransAsia Airways plane that crashed in a river in Taiwan this morning came forward, in the second loss the airline has suffered in less than a year.
American International Group (AIG) was the lead insurer and Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group the lead broker for the TransAsia Airways plane that clipped a bridge and crashed into a river in Taipei, Taiwan this morning.
The crash of the turboprop plane killed at least 31 people and injured 15 more, officials said.
“We act on behalf of TransAsia and are providing every assistance as is appropriate in these tragic circumstances,” a spokesman for JLT said. “Our thoughts are with the family and friends of those on board who lost their lives and for the injured.”
Fifty-eight people were aboard when the plane crashed shortly after leaving Taipei for the island of Kinmen, off the coast of China.
According to CNA, Taiwan’s official news agency, the pilot was attempting to control the plane as it descended before the wing clipped the overpass of Nanhu Bridge and crashed into the Keelung River. The plane also grazed a passing taxi, injuring two passengers. A dash-cam video captured the moment the plane went down.
Twelve passengers are still unaccounted for, officials said, while search and rescue efforts continue.
The loss is the second in less than a year for TransAsia, which also had a plane go down in Taiwan while trying to land in typhoon conditions this past July.
Chen Xinde, CEO for the airline, issued a “deep apology to the victims and our crew.”
Insurers have sustained serious losses in the past year as the number of plane tragedies involving Asian carriers continues to grow. In addition to the two TransAsia crashes, AirAsia sustained a loss in December as a plane crashed en route from Surabaya, Indonesia to Singapore. Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine in July, and the airline has still not located the plane that went missing off the coast of Australia in March.
