203 Die in Jet Crash Near Taiwan Airport

More than 200 people were killed Monday night when a China Airlines jet trying to land in heavy fog crashed short of the runway, burst into flames and careened into a row of nearby houses.

All 196 passengers and crew aboard the Airbus 300 died, including Taiwan’s central bank governor, Sheu Yuan-dong, his wife and four other central bank officials--and a family of 13.

At least seven other people were killed by flaming debris while in their cars or homes. A 10-year-old boy and a baby girl were pulled from the rubble of a home but died on the way to the hospital.

The plane, returning from the Indonesian island resort of Bali, was making a second approach to Chiang Kai-shek International Airport because of poor visibility when it crashed, a China Airlines spokesman said.

“The pilot was having trouble seeing the runway as he made his approach and asked to come around for another try,” the spokesman said.

The pilot lost contact with the tower and swerved off course and into a cluster of houses at 8:07 p.m., according to the spokesman.

As crash investigators announced that they had discovered the “black box” flight recorders, the head of Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics Administration, Tsai Tuei, and China Airlines President Chiang Hung-yi both announced their resignations Monday night.

“Seven foreigners were killed in the plane crash,” a China Airlines spokeswoman told Reuters news service.

Of the seven, five were Americans, one was French and one was Indonesian, she said.

The Americans were identified as Laurence Smith, Christopher Cory, Kenneth Cowan, Jacques Augustin and Tom Hadel.

In addition to the natural trauma of the tragedy, the death of central bank Governor Sheu, 70, and his economic team in the middle of Asia’s economic crisis is causing great concern in Taiwan.

Sheu, a close confidant of President Lee Teng-hui, was one of the key players behind Taiwan’s strategy of using its wealth to bolster its international status.

Under his conservative management of monetary policy, Taiwan has so far avoided the depths of the troubles of many of its Asian neighbors. Sheu and his colleagues were on their way back from a conference of regional central bankers in Bali.

“It’s a very unfortunate accident,” said Kuo Wen-jeng, a research fellow at the Chinese Economic Research Institute. “We hope that the government can stay on track with their monetary policy. He left a legacy of good mechanisms in place.”

Lee expressed shock over the disaster and ordered an investigation. Tragedies on a more personal level played out near the crash scene.

Hundreds of relatives gathered at a nearby hotel to identify their family members. One man, wrapped in a blue blanket, waited for his turn to shuttle to a makeshift morgue and lamented his son’s premature death.

“He was only 30. He was so young and healthy and now, so suddenly, he is gone. I cannot accept this,” he said.

His son, Wang Jing-shin, and his fiancee were returning from a vacation in Bali. “China Airlines has had this kind of accident before. They should do something to keep this from happening again and again,” said the elder Wang, who did not want his full name used, preferring that people remember his son’s name and not his.

In one of the worst air disasters on record, a China Airlines flight crashed in Nagoya, Japan, in 1994, killing 264 passengers and crew. A few months earlier, one of the airline’s jets overshot the runway in Hong Kong and slid into the harbor.

China Airlines officials and volunteers from a Buddhist organization escorted family members through the charred site where soldiers had helped collect remains.

The inferno had burned most bodies beyond recognition, and the families were identifying their loved ones through rings, gold teeth and belongings.

“There is not a single complete body,” said Hsieh Jui-yueh, a Buddhist volunteer who was helping comfort relatives. “There are only parts left, but we try to have as much as possible for the burial.

“Life is unpredictable,” she said as she handed out blankets. “We just try to catch the spirit.”