TransAsia airways plane crash: There was a mayday call shortly before the plane hits the bridge

Someone in the cockpit of the TransAsia Airways flight carrying 58 passengers apparently made a mayday call because of an engine problem shortly before the plane crashed Wednesday into a river in Taiwan, killing at least 31 people. Among survivors is a 2 year old boy.

A male voice on a recording of radio conversations between air traffic control and TransAsia Airways Flight GE235 says, "GE235. Mayday, mayday. Engine flameout." The recording was verified by LiveATC.net, which records air traffic control feeds around the world.

It is unclear whether the man was a pilot. The passenger plane clipped a bridge and plunged into a river in Taipei, according to the island's official news agency, CNA. Some Taiwanese paid homage to the pilot, saying he made a desperate, deliberate choice to avoid the additional casualties likely if the plane had hit nearby apartment buildings, high schools and roads.

Rescuers scrambled to pull survivors from the submerged wreck of the ATR 72 twin-engine turboprop aircraft, which went down shortly after takeoff from the Taiwanese capital.

Fifty-eight people were aboard the flight when it veered out of control as it flew to Kinmen, off the coast of the Chinese province of Xiamen.

The toll: 31 confirmed dead, 15 injured and 12 missing, officials said. The search and rescue effort continues. Two other people, who were in a car on the bridge that was clipped by the left wing of the plane as it went down, also were injured.

The plane's cockpit crew were among those confirmed dead, authorities said.

Crews have recovered the aircraft's "black boxes," CNA reported. 

Credit: CNN,USA Today