Taiwan pilot hailed a hero for pulling plane clear of buildings

Rescue personnel search in the waters near the wreckage TransAsia Airways plane Flight GE235 after it crash landed into a river, in New Taipei City February 5, 2015. REUTERS/Pichi Chuang

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taipei's mayor hailed the pilot of a crashed TransAsia Airways <6702.TW> plane a hero on Thursday for narrowly avoiding buildings and ditching the stalled aircraft in a river, likely averting a worse disaster.

At least 31 people were killed when Flight GE235 lurched between buildings, clipped a taxi and an overpass with one of its wings and crashed upside down into shallow water shortly after take-off from a downtown Taipei airport on Wednesday. There were 15 known survivors and 12 more unaccounted for.