Forty-eight people are now known to have died after a passenger plane crashed in Taiwan's Penghu island, as a storm passed over the area.

An investigation was due to begin on Thursday once aviation officials arrived     The plane, carrying 58 people, crashed during a second attempt to land

The plane, carrying 58 people, crashed into buildings after a failed attempt to land at Magong airport.

The other 10 people on board were hurt. Two French nationals were on the plane, officials said. No crew members are thought to have survived.

Family members were flying to Penghu on Thursday, Taiwan media said.

Minister of Transportation Yeh Kuang-shih and aviation officials were also flying to the island to start an investigation into the disaster, Taiwan's CNA news agency said.

The plane that crashed was an ATR-72 TransAsia Airways aircraft flying from Taiwan's southern city of Kaohsiung to Penghu, a popular tourist destination in the Taiwan Strait.

It was Taiwan's first fatal air crash in more than a decade and came as Typhoon Matmo struck, bringing torrential rain and high wind.

The plane crashed on its second attempt to land at the airport. It lost contact with controllers after telling them it was going around again.

The aircraft then came down in Xixi village outside the airport.

"I heard a loud bang," TV station TBS quoted a local resident as saying. "I thought it was thunder, and then I heard another bang and I saw a fireball not far away from my house."

Images late on Wednesday night showed firefighters dousing flames at the scene and using torches to rescue injured passengers.

Official said visibility at the time of the crash was 1,600m (one mile) and within acceptable standards for landing, despite the storm.

Reports from Taiwan suggested officials were looking for one person who might have been in residential buildings hit by the plane as it crashed.

TransAsia, a private airline, flies domestic routes in Taiwan and international routes in North and South-East Asia.

It has apologised and says it will compensate relatives of those on board.

This is Taiwan's worst aviation disaster since May 2002, when a China Airlines flight from Taipei to Hong Kong crashed near Penghu, killing all 225 on board.

Source: BBC