"We are regretful for such an unfortunate accident and we would like to pay our gratitude to the government for assisting with the recovery," Chang said.
With the assistance of China Airlines, around 200 relatives of the passengers flew to Makung last night to identify the bodies.
This has been the 14th air crash involving China Airlines since 1969, official statistics indicate. The company's notorious safety record once put it on the list of the world's most dangerous airlines.
The last known fatal China Airlines accident was a crash-landing in Hong Kong in 1999, killing three people.
Over 200 people were killed respectively in the 1994 crash in Nagoya and the 1998 crash in the Taoyuan in the vicinity of CKS International Airport.
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