225 Dead in Mystery Taiwan Crash

AN ELDERLY China Airlines jet crashed in the Taiwan Straits yesterday with the probable loss of all 225 people on board. It fell from a clear sky, without any distress signal, but reports that it had been destroyed by an explosion were not confirmed.

The Boeing 747-200, built in 1979, was the last plane of its kind in the fleet of Taiwan's flag-carrier and one of the oldest. It had already been sold and had been due to be delivered to a Thai charter company next month.

The crash represents a serious reverse for the airline's efforts to end its flawed safety record and is another jolt to public confidence in aviation in the region.

The aircraft, bound for Hong Kong, took off from Taipei's international airport and was at 35,000ft when it was reported missing about 20 minutes after takeoff. It went down near the Penghu island group, also known as the Pescadores, about 30 miles off Taiwan's coast.

Military search and rescue teams picked up scores of bodies and spotted a cabin door, life-vests and an oil slick. Farmers found scraps of foam padding and in-flight magazines. TV news showed officials wading into rice fields to collect debris.

'I heard a big bang,' a fisherman told local cable television. 'I thought it was mainland fishermen dynamiting fish' - a common technique.

Airline president Wei Hsin-hsiung told reporters: 'We think a mechanical problem was unlikely. If it had been mechanical problems, the pilot would have had enough time to contact the air control tower.'

The airliner was carrying 206 passengers and 19 crew. Most of the passengers were Taiwanese, but they also included two Singaporeans, five people from Hong Kong and one European.

In Hong Kong, distressed relatives gathered in the airport to await news.

'We feel so deeply sorry for this incident,' David Fei, China Airlines' general manager in Hong Kong, told a news conference. He bowed twice in a Chinese gesture of contrition, but defended the company's safety record.

'Safety is our top priority,' said Fei, adding that the airline had received a certificate two years ago from the International Standards Organisation, which sets quality control benchmarks for global industries. The plane had received a maintenance check every year.

The airline has only recently recovered from a series of crashes in the 1990s.

The mainland Chinese civil aviation administration has banned 'red-eye' flights which occur late at night. The volume of air traffic has increased in the region faster than anywhere else in the world.