plane in the river (1)

The first image we saw of the TransAsia flight was on the TV news in a noodle shop in Tongxiao. It was still, part of the fuselage sticking out of the shallow Jilong River in Taipei. Not a big deal, we thought; soon holes will be opened up and the people let out. It takes a while for the media to create a sense of crisis. It was strange how long it took to pry open the plane, and doubts began to appear in our minds: most of the plane was under water, after all. Soon enough the treasure was found: a dash-cam video of the plane veering earthward, clipping a taxi and shearing off part of its wing on its way down into the river. This video clip became the center of the media work, and quickly we began to realize how terrifying and fatal this flight was. I found myself trying to imagine sitting in that plane as it skimmed the bridge, or as it struggled to gain altitude out of Songshan Airport. Interviews with survivors helped, but their words paint few pictures.