RESCUERS used a crane last night to hoist the fuselage of a wrecked TransAsia Airways plane from a shallow river in Taiwan’s capital Taipei as they searched for people missing in a crash.

Flight 235 with 58 people aboard, most of them from China, banked sharply on its side shortly after takeoff from Taipei, clipped a motorway bridge and then careened into the Keelung River.

Rescuers in rubber rafts pulled 15 people alive from the wreckage during daylight.

They brought in the crane after dark and the death toll is expected to rise once crews are able to search through submerged portions of the fuselage, which came to rest a few dozen yards from the shore.

Dramatic video clips apparently taken in traffic were posted online and aired by broadcasters, showing the ATR 72 propjet as it pivoted onto its side while zooming towards a road bridge over the river.