The latest tragedy takes to 12 the number of fatal crashes involving China Airlines - including two in or near Hong Kong.
On April 26, 1994, an Airbus A300-600 crashed at Nagoya airport in Japan killing 264 people. In what was Taiwan's worst air disaster, a China Airlines Airbus smashed into a row of houses near Taipei's Chiang Kai-shek International Airport on February 16, 1998, killing 196 passengers and crew and six people on the ground.
The last crash in Hong Kong happened on August 22, 1999, when Flight CI642, flying from Bangkok, crash-landed at Chek Lap Kok and overturned in flames during Typhoon Sam. The plane was carrying 300 passengers and 15 crew.
Three people were killed and 200 were injured.
On December 29, 1991, a Boeing 747-200 freighter crashed in Taipei county, northern Taiwan, killing five crew. Two years earlier, in October 1989, a Boeing 737 hit a mountain in the eastern Taiwan county of Hualien, killing 54 people.
On August 16, 1982, a China Airlines 747 with 292 passengers flying from Taiwan to Hong Kong encountered severe inflight turbulence near the territory. Two passengers were killed.