21:03 Insurers face massive payout

Emergency personnel retrieve the body of a passenger from the wreckage of a TransAsia Airways turboprop ATR 72-600 aircraft after it was crashed in a river, in New Taipei City. [Photo / Agencies]

Insurance companies will have to pay out at least NT$700 million (130 million yuan) in compensation, Taiwan's insurance regulator estimated after the TransAsia plane crash that killed at least 23 people on Wednesday.

The airline can claim US$20 million (12.5 million yuan) in total from eight insurers for fuselage damage to the ill-fated ATR 72-600 aircraft carrying 58 passengers and crew.

Among that number were 31 mainland tourists who had travel insurance, huanqiu.com cited Taiwan media as saying.

Some insurers have already initiated compensation procedures.

Rescue personnel carry a passenger from the crashed TransAsia ATR 72-600 turboprop plane. [Photo/CFP]

20:33 Two of the 23 confirmed deaths from mainland

Two of the 23 confirmed deaths were identified as tourists from the mainland.

They were among the 31 mainland passengers, who were on organized trips and managed by two travel agencies from Xiamen city.

They are Wang Qinghuo and Wang Zhangsheng.

19:59 Death toll in plane crash rises to 23

At least 23 people died after a Taiwan TransAsia Airways plane clipped a highway bridge and careened into the Keelung River.

The death toll was expected to rise as rescue crews continued search for the missing.

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