The domestic flight crashed on Wednesday at an airport in the city of Magong
"It's chaotic on the scene," Jean Shen, the director of the civil aviation authorities, told the Reuters news agency.
"The fire department was putting out the flames. They will give us the number of casualties very soon."
Taiwan's Central News Agency cited the the Civil Aviation Administration as saying the flight crashed with 54 passengers and four flight crew and was operated by TransAsia Airway, a Taiwanese airline.
"Fifty-one people are feared dead and seven people injured," Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration chief Shen Chi told the agency," adding that the seven others on the plane were injured.
However, a local fire chief put the death toll at 45.
Typhoon Matmo hit Taiwan on Wednesday with heavy rains and strong winds, shutting financial markets and schools.
TransAsia Airways is a Taiwan-based airline with a fleet of 23 mostly Airbus aircraft, flying chiefly on domestic routes, but with some flights to Japan, Thailand and Cambodia among its Asian destinations.
- Aljazeera
