At least 12 people have died after a TransAsia Airways plane clipped a bridge and crashed into a river near the Taiwanese capital, Taipei.

Fifty-eight people were onboard the domestic flight. The plane is now half-submerged in the Keelung River.

Rescuers have cut open the side of the fuselage and are trying to rescue several people still trapped inside.

Taipei officials said 16 people suffered injuries. Thirty people are still unaccounted for.

Cindy Sui reports: ''Many of the people on board are still inside the aircraft''

The ATR-72 turbo-prop plane had just taken off from Taipei Songshan Airport and was heading to the outlying Kinmen islands, just off the coast of the south-eastern Chinese city of Xiamen, CNA said.

Flight controllers lost contact with the plane at 10:55 local time (02:55 GMT).

Footage of the plane apparently filmed from inside passing cars showed it banking sharply, hitting a taxi and clipping the bridge before crashing into the river.

(Source: BBC)