Taiwan mourns victims of TransAsia Airways crash

Sun Lih-chyun, spokesman of the government of Taiwan, has revealed that the country has set aside Tuesday for mourning the victims of last week’s TransAsia Airways crash.

A GE235 aircraft with 58 people on board crashed into the Keelung river shortly after take-off from Taipei’s Songshan airport.

A taxi driver and passenger were also injured when the plane clipped a bridge before hitting the water.

Forty people were confirmed dead by Monday, with 15 survivors.

“We have notified all government agencies across the country to fly the national flag at half-mast on Tuesday to mourn for the victims,” Sun told reporters.

Search teams used metal detectors to try to locate three still-missing male passengers in the river by their watches or belt buckles and some families called out the names of the missing along the banks and spread ghost money into the river.

A report says the offerings of reproduction votive banknotes are intended to appease any spirits that might be distracting the souls of the deceased.

It added that they might remember where their bodies are, allowing the salvage team to locate them.

Many East Asians believe the souls of the departed return on the seventh day after death to bid a final farewell to loved ones

Several religious ceremonies held by TransAsia Airways, with the assistance of Taipei city government, were launched ahead of the beginning of the day of mourning at midnight.

According to Taipei city government, the bodies of three Chinese victims, accompanied by their families, returned home to Xiamen in Fujian province by Mandarin Airlines early Monday.

Officials of TransAsia Airways said more memorials would be held on Tuesday while discussions on compensation would resume on Wednesday.

A preliminary investigation released by Taiwan’s aviation safety council indicated that the ATR 72 turboprop’s two engines shut down before the crash.

However, a full analysis of the plane’s data recorders is still months away.