At least 47 people were killed on Wednesday when a TransAsia Airways turboprop plane crashed on an island off Taiwan while trying to make an emergency landing in the midst of torrential rains from Typhoon Matmo.

54 passengers and four crew members were on board when the 70-seat ATR 72 crashed near the runway on the island of Penghu. The 11 survivors on the plane were taken to a hospital. The plane's crash landing also sent a few vacant buildings ablaze.

Flight GE222 took off from Kaohsiung, a major city in Taiwan, and headed to an airport on the island of Magong, reported USA Today. However, the aircraft slammed into the ground in Huxi Township of Penghu County because of stormy weather and strong winds.

"It was thunderstorm conditions during the crash," said Hsi Wen-guang, a spokesman for the Penghu County Government Fire Bureau, according to Reuters. "From the crash site we sent 11 people to hospital with injuries. A few empty apartment buildings adjacent to the runway caught fire, but no one was inside at the time and the fire was extinguished."

According to Taiwan News reports, the pilot, 60-year-old Lee Yi-liang, and his co-pilot, 39-year-old Chiang Kuan-hsing, each had flown over 20,000 hours.

"The Taiwan News reports that aircraft took off more than 90 minutes late because of the poor weather and the pilot reportedly asked to wait until 7:06 p.m. before being allowed to land," reported USA Today.

About 100 firefighters, 152 military personnel and 255 police arrived on the scene.

President Ma Ying-jeou described the accident as "a very sad day in the history of Taiwanese aviation," according to The Associated Press.

After sweeping through Taiwan on Wednesday, Typhoon Matmo headed into China and was eventually downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm.