Family of three survived Taiwan crash by changing seats before takeoff

A family of three survived the fatal Taiwan passenger plane crash after they changed seats shortly before take off, it has emerged. Lin Ming-wei, his wife Jiang Yu-ying and son Lin Yao were rescued from the ATR 72-600 airliner after it hit a road bridge in Taipei and crashed into the Keelung River on Wednesday. They were seated on the left side of the TransAsia Airways plane, but Mr Lin asked to be moved to some empty seats on the opposite side and towards the back of the plane, according to the Hong Kong-based Apple Daily website.

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

Wu Jun-hong, a Taipei Fire Department official who was co-ordinating the rescue

Dai Bi-chin, a friend of the family, told Taiwanese news outlet United Daily they decided to switch seats after Mr Lin “felt uneasy after he heard noises before taking off and requested to switch seats”. Dramatic footage from a driver’s dashcam showed the aircraft’s wing clipping a taxi after avoiding nearby buildings, before it disappeared from view. The port side of the aircraft was badly damaged after it hit the surface of the river three minutes after taking off from Taipei’s Sungshan airport.

World TransAsia