VIDEO: At least 23 dead after passenger jet collides with bridge in Taiwan's busy capital

A TransAsia GE235 passenger plane with 58 people on board crashed three minutes after take off, 5km from the runway.

16:35 04 February 2015

At least 23 people have died after TransAsia GE235, a passenger plane with 58 people onboard, collided with bridge in Taipei just three minutes after taking off.

15 passengers were rescued, including four children. There are currently 20 passengers that are unaccounted for and believed to be still trapped inside the plane.

The tragedy was caught on tape by a passing motorist’s dashboard camera. The footage shows the plane as it plunged into the water after taking off from Songshan airport, which was just 5km away.

Regarding the operation to remove the plane from the water, Wu Jun-hong, a Taipei Fire Department official said: 'The focus of our work is to try to use cranes to lift the front part of the wreckage, which is submerged under the water and is where most of the other passengers are feared trapped,'

'At the moment, things don't look too optimistic. Those in the front of the plane are likely to have lost their lives.'

More than 1,000 emergency personnel were sent to Nanyang Bridge for the rescue operation. 

Lin Kuan-cheng, who was part of the rescue crews that first arrived to the accident site, said:  'Three people showed no heartbeat and other life signs when they were rescued,'