October 31, 2000, Singapore Airlines confirms that flight SQ 006, from Taipei to Los Angeles with 159 passengers and 20 crew on board crashed on the runway during the take-off run yesterday (31 October) at 2318 hours local time at Taipei’s Chiang Kai Shek Airport. The aircraft is a B747-400. The flight commander reported hitting an object on the take-off run. Rescue operations are in progress. There are 68 people injured and in hospital, with 16 passengers confirmed as not injured. The status of the remaining passengers is still to be confirmed.

Of the crew, 1 cabin crew member has been hospitalized. The 3 technical crew are not injured. The National Transportation Safety Board is sending a team of investigators to provide assistance to the Taiwan authorities' investigation of a plane crash in Taipei, Taiwan. The eight member NTSB team, led by senior investigator Al Dickinson, who has been designated the U.S. Accredited Representative, is expected to arrive in Taiwan on Thursday evening,  local time.  Representatives of the Federal Aviation Administration will accompany the NTSB investigators.