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 TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taipei's mayor hailed the pilot of a crashed TransAsia Airways 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 on Wednesday. There were 15 known survivors and 12 more unaccounted for. 
 
 "He really tried everything he could," Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je said of the pilot, his voice breaking with sobs. 
 
 Amateur video recorded by a car dashboard camera showed the plane nose-up as it barely cleared the buildings close to Taipei's Songshan airport before crashing into the river. 
 
 "The pilot's immediate reaction saved many people," said Chris Lin, brother of one of the survivors. 
 
 Aerospace analysts said it was too early to say whether the pilots intentionally pulled the plane above the buildings, and noted that the crew may have been aiming for the river to reduce casualties. 
 
 A more conclusive picture will emerge only when authorities release details from the plane's cockpit voice and flight data recorders, which were recovered on Wednesday. 
 
 The pilot and co-pilot of the almost-new turboprop ATR 72-600 were among those killed, Taiwan's aviation regulator said. TransAsia identified the pilot as 42-year-old Liao Chien-tsung. 
 
 Taiwanese media reported that it appeared Liao had fought desperately to steer his stricken aircraft between apartment blocks and commercial buildings. 
 
 IN-DEPTH 
 
 - Reuters ||||| Taipei, Feb. 5 (CNA) In the wake of the tragedy that killed most of those on board TransAsia Airways (復興航空) Flight GE235 Wednesday, one family of three considered themselves fortunate to be counted among the 15 who survived the crash. 
 
 
 
 The fact that none of the three were seriously injured could be attributed to the quick thinking of Lin Ming-wei (林明威), the father, who requested a seating change shortly before takeoff from Taipei's Songshan airport. 
 
 
 
 Lin and his wife Chiang Yu-ying (江郁穎) and two-year-old son Ji-yao (日堯) had been seated to the left of the aisle of the ATR-72 turboprop but he asked to be moved to empty seats on the right and toward the back of the plane. 
 
 
 
 He felt uneasy about the noise he heard when seated on the left side, Lin explained. 
 
 
 
 The move may well have saved his own life and those of his loved ones. Initial reports indicated that the port side of the turboprop plane was seriously damaged when it crashed into Keelung River about three minutes after takeoff late Wednesday morning. 
 
 
 
 
 
 [Photo courtesy of the New Taipei City Fire Department] 
 
 
 
 The plane was bound for the offshore island of Kinmen, where the Lins had planned to go on holiday. 
 
 
 
 Of the 58 people on board, including 5 crew members, 31 were confirmed dead and 12 remained missing as of Thursday morning. 
 
 
 
 After the change, Lin was lucky to be seated right next to the place where the fuselage broke up. Immediately after realizing what had happened, Lin scrambled out of the opening and looked for his wife and son to safety, a family friend was quoted by local media as saying. 
 
 
 
 Lin found his boy in the water and applied CPR to resuscitate him. 
 
 
 
 Lin was the only survivor that was not hospitalized, according to Taipei City Hospital. He had hardly any superficial injury and, after a reassuring computed tomography scan, took a taxi to be reunited with his wife and son, who had been sent to another branch of the hospital by rescue workers. 
 
 
 
 Lin's wife suffered multiple fractures and would undergo surgery Thursday. Their son has been in intensive care after taking in water but was said to be conscious and in good spirits. 
 
 
 
 (By Ku Chuan and Jay Chen; click here for the latest on the crash) 
 
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 ||||| Story highlights Taxi driver to dispatch: "A plane flew by and hit me" 
 
 Lin Ming-wei's son was blue with no heartbeat when his father spotted his feet in the water 
 
 Lin's family is one of a handful of survivors of this week's airplane crash in Taiwan 
 
 (CNN) As they took their seats on a TransAsia Airways flight that crashed in Taipei on Wednesday, Lin Ming-wei and his young family were looking forward to a vacation on Kinmen, an island in the Taiwan Strait. 
 
 Minutes later, Lin was fighting his way out of the plane's wreckage and searching frantically for his toddler in the shallow, murky waters of the Keelung River. 
 
 21 photos: TransAsia plane crashes into river in Taiwan 21 photos: TransAsia plane crashes into river in Taiwan TransAsia Airways Flight GE235 clips a bridge in Taipei, Taiwan, shortly after takeoff Wednesday, February 4, in this still image taken from video. The ATR 72 twin-engine turboprop airplane then plunged into the Keelung River. More than 30 of the 58 passengers on board have been confirmed dead. Hide Caption 1 of 21 21 photos: TransAsia plane crashes into river in Taiwan Divers continue search operations at the crash site in Taipei on Friday, February 6. Hide Caption 2 of 21 21 photos: TransAsia plane crashes into river in Taiwan Relatives watch divers recover bodies from the crash site on February 6. Hide Caption 3 of 21 21 photos: TransAsia plane crashes into river in Taiwan Emergency personnel carry a body recovered from the water on February 6. Hide Caption 4 of 21 21 photos: TransAsia plane crashes into river in Taiwan A crane lifts part of the wreckage at the crash site in Taipei on Thursday, February 5. Hide Caption 5 of 21 21 photos: TransAsia plane crashes into river in Taiwan Wreckage sits on the bank of the Keelung River on February 5. Hide Caption 6 of 21 21 photos: TransAsia plane crashes into river in Taiwan The tail of Flight GE235 is hoisted out of the water February 5. Hide Caption 7 of 21 21 photos: TransAsia plane crashes into river in Taiwan Rescuers lift the plane's wreckage from the Keelung River on February 4. Hide Caption 8 of 21 21 photos: TransAsia plane crashes into river in Taiwan Rescuers search for debris on February 4. Hide Caption 9 of 21 21 photos: TransAsia plane crashes into river in Taiwan The plane's mangled fuselage gets pulled to the riverbank February 4. Hide Caption 10 of 21 21 photos: TransAsia plane crashes into river in Taiwan Rescue operations are underway around the wreckage of the plane on February 4. Hide Caption 11 of 21 21 photos: TransAsia plane crashes into river in Taiwan Emergency personnel help an injured passenger onto land on February 4. Hide Caption 12 of 21 21 photos: TransAsia plane crashes into river in Taiwan Rescue personnel search for passengers from the wreckage in the Keelung River in Taipei on February 4. Hide Caption 13 of 21 21 photos: TransAsia plane crashes into river in Taiwan Rescuers carry an injured passenger on a stretcher up the riverbank on February 4. Hide Caption 14 of 21 21 photos: TransAsia plane crashes into river in Taiwan Police investigate the bridge that the plane hit on February 4. Hide Caption 15 of 21 21 photos: TransAsia plane crashes into river in Taiwan Debris from the plane sits on the bridge in Taipei on February 4. Hide Caption 16 of 21 21 photos: TransAsia plane crashes into river in Taiwan Rescue personnel assist passengers as they wait to be transported to land on February 4. Hide Caption 17 of 21 21 photos: TransAsia plane crashes into river in Taiwan Debris from the plane crash is lined up along the riverbank on February 4. Hide Caption 18 of 21 21 photos: TransAsia plane crashes into river in Taiwan Rescuers work to free people from the wreckage in the Keelung River on February 4. Hide Caption 19 of 21 21 photos: TransAsia plane crashes into river in Taiwan Rescue personnel search for passengers in the Keelung River on February 4. Hide Caption 20 of 21 21 photos: TransAsia plane crashes into river in Taiwan Rescue personnel put an injured passenger into an ambulance on February 4. Hide Caption 21 of 21 
 
 He searched for three minutes before spotting his son's feet in the water. 
 
 "When he pulled him out, he had no heartbeat," Lin Ming-wei's brother, using his English name Chris Lin, told CNN. "His lips were blue. There was no sign of life in him." 
 
 Lin Ming-wei didn't give up, performing CPR on his son. 
 
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– Lin Ming-wei says he owes his life, and that of his family, to a last-minute decision to switch seats aboard the TransAsia plane that crashed yesterday in Taipei, killing at least 31 people. Just before takeoff, Lin says he heard an odd noise that unsettled him, and he asked for permission to move with his wife and 2-year-old son from the left side of the plane to an empty row of seats on the rear right side, CNN reports. Minutes later, Lin found himself in the plane's wreckage in Keelung River; the family's new seats were next to where the fuselage broke up, allowing him to exit via the opening, Focus Taiwan reports. He escaped unscathed; of 15 survivors, he was the only one who didn't need medical attention. Lin found his son in the river—with no heartbeat. He gave the boy CPR, telling the Liberty Times, per CNN, "He is my only child. I absolutely have to save his life—I can't lose him." The boy and Lin's wife survived and are now in a hospital. Initial reports suggest the left side of the aircraft sustained the most damage—and Lin wasn't the only passenger to feel uneasy. "Shortly after taking off, I felt something was not right," says Huang Chin-shun, 72. "I thought, 'something's wrong with the engine,' because I always take this flight." NBC News reports the plane's pilot and co-pilot, hailed for apparently dodging buildings, were among those killed. Officials say 12 people are still missing.