The crash of flight GE222 in Taiwan

A local resident walks past the tail section of TransAsia Airways flight GE222 as rescue workers and firefighters search through the wreckage the morning after it crashed near the airport at Magong on the Penghu island chain

Typhoon conditions probably brought down a TransAsia Airways plane on a Taiwanese island, killing 48 people, the airline confirmed.

It is believed that stormy weather on the trailing edge of Typhoon Matmo was the likely cause of the crash in the Penghu island chain in the Taiwan Strait between Taiwan and China.

The ATR-72 jet was travelling from the city of Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan with 58 passengers and crew on board when it crashed near the runway while attempting to land.