On the afternoon of July 25, President Ma Ying-jeou went to Taipei Mackay Memorial Hospital and Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital to visit persons who were injured in the TransAsia Airways plane crash and their family members.
In public remarks at Mackay Memorial Hospital on TransAsia flight GE-222, which crashed during its descent into Magong Airport in the Penghu Islands on the evening of July 23, President Ma noted that, of the 54 passengers and four crew members on board the aircraft, 48 were killed and 10 suffered severe injuries. In addition, five persons living in the village where the plane crashed were also injured. The president said the entire nation felt great grief over the incident.
President Ma stressed that the government's most pressing tasks were to attend to the needs of those who survived the crash, and to determine the cause. The president said that on the evening of the accident, the Executive Yuan immediately established the Central Emergency Operation Center, and that while Minister of Transportation and Communications Yeh Kuang-shih (葉匡時) was unable to reach the scene of the accident the evening it occurred due to poor weather conditions, Minister Yeh traveled to Penghu early the following morning to understand the situation and help deal with the aftermath.
President Ma instructed the Executive Yuan to coordinate with the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC), the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and other government agencies to provide all necessary arrangements as soon as possible, including consolation, compensation, and a public memorial service. He added that the MOTC's Civil Aeronautics Administration should also review the nation's aviation safety measures in order to maintain safety and make sure that people feel safe flying.
At Taipei Mackay Memorial Hospital, President Ma checked in on Lee Wei-tong (李緯彤), a little girl who survived the crash. The president said he was there to express condolences to Wei-tong and her family on behalf of the government and the nation's people. Wei-tong was intubated and unable to speak, but she was conscious and her condition was increasingly stable. He expressed confidence that she would soon recover.
Apart from thanking the two members of the ROC Navy on the flight who selflessly rescued Wei-tong, the president also thanked all of the military and relief personnel in Penghu who were on the front line of the rescue effort. He said their efforts enabled the 10 survivors to get to hospitals as quickly as possible.
President Ma expressed deep sorrow, and said that the government would demand stronger flight safety measures. He called on everyone to work together to help the injured to achieve quick recovery, and to enable those who died in the crash to be put to rest. And finally, he expressed hope that no such accident would ever happen again in Taiwan.
After concluding his remarks, the president went with MOTC Minister Yeh and Minister of Health and Welfare Chiu Wen-ta (邱文達) to Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital to visit another passenger injured on the flight, Mr. Wu Chang-lou (吳昌樓), and to express sympathy to his family members.