DHAKA: Rescue teams in Taiwan were searching for 12 people missing Thursday after the spectacular crash of a TransAsia Airways propjet captured on dramatic video.

At least 31 people died in the crash of the TransAsia Airways turboprop plane shortly after takeoff in Taipai.

Flight 235 had 58 people aboard, many of them travelers from China, when it banked sharply on its side Wednesday, clipped a highway bridge and careened into the Keelung River. Rescuers in rubber rafts pulled 15 people alive from the wreckage during daylight.

Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration said 31 people were confirmed dead, 15 were rescued with injuries and 12 were still missing. It said two people on the ground were hurt.

Taiwanese rescuers used a massive crane to hoist the French-built ATR 72-600 plane from the shallow, murky river after survivors were brought to safety on rubber rafts or scrambled to the river bank on their own. One injured person was reportedly found in a park along the river, Taiwan News reported.

Wu Jun-Hong, a Taipei Fire Department official coordinating the rescue, said he was not "too optimistic" that more survivors would be found.

Dramatic dashcam footage from vehicles on an elevated highway clearly shows the plane's tragic crash. 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.

Taiwan's Liberty Times newspaper quoted online comments thanking and praising the pilot's actions, although aviation authorities could not immediately confirm such an effort took place. The fate of pilot Liao Jianzong, who reportedly had nearly 5,000 hours of flying experience, was not immediately known.

BDST: 0914 HRS, FEB 05, 2015