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Taiwan military chief among eight killed in helicopter crash landing Taiwan military chief among eight killed in helicopter crash landing
(32 minutes later)
Air force general Shen Yi-ming died when aircraft carrying 13 people went down near TaipeiAir force general Shen Yi-ming died when aircraft carrying 13 people went down near Taipei
Taiwan’s top military official was among eight people killed on Thursday after the helicopter carrying them made a forced landing in a mountainous area near the capital, Taipei, the defence ministry said. Taiwan’s top military official was among eight people killed when a helicopter crash-landed on Thursday in a mountainous area near the capital, Taipei, the defence ministry has said.
The main portion of the helicopter lay in a northern forest wreathed in mist, with its blades shattered into pieces, as dozens of rescuers combed the wreck for survivors, pictures released by emergency authorities showed. The chief of general staff, air force general Shen Yi-ming, died in the incident while five of the 13 people onboard survived, the military.
The chief of general staff, air force general Shen Yi-ming, died in the incident, while five of the 13 people onboard survived, the military said in a statement. The defence ministry said aviation authorities lost contact with the Black Hawk helicopter at 8.22am local time and it dispatched a rescue team. The helicopter had left Taipei on a mission to visit soldiers in the north-east county of Yilan.
“Eight of our colleagues were killed,” a military spokesman told a news conference broadcast live on television. Taiwan is due to hold presidential and parliamentary elections on 11 January. The president, Tsai Ing-wen, who is seeking re-election, cancelled all campaign activities until Saturday and urged authorities to make every effort at rescue. She was scheduled to deliver a speech at 3pm.
The defence ministry said it had dispatched a rescue team following the Black Hawk helicopter’s forced landing in New Taipei City, after aviation authorities lost contact with the craft at 8:22am local time. The United States, which has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan but is its strongest international backer and main arms supplier, sold the island 60 UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters in 2010. It was not immediately clear if the helicopter in Thursday’s incident was one of them.
The helicopter had left Taipei on a mission to visit soldiers in the north-east county of Yilan. The incident comes a week before democratic Taiwan holds presidential and parliamentary elections on 11 January. It was the latest in a series of aviation accidents in Taiwan. In 2018 a Black Hawk helicopter crashed off the east coast, killing six people onboard, and an F-16 fighter jet crashed in a separate incident, killing a pilot.
The president, Tsai Ing-wen, who is seeking re-election, cancelled all campaign activities until Saturday, and urged authorities to make every effort at rescue. She was scheduled to deliver a speech at 3pm. In 2016 the navy fired a supersonic missile in error, hitting a fishing boat in waters that separate Taiwan from China.
The United States, which has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but is its strongest international backer and main arms supplier, sold the island 60 UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters in 2010. China, which claims Taiwan as its territory to be brought under Beijing’s control by force if necessary, regularly calls the island the most sensitive issue in its ties with the US.
It was not immediately clear if the helicopter in Thursday’s incident was one of them, however.
The incident was the latest in a series of aviation accidents in Taiwan, after the 2018 crash of a Black Hawk helicopter off its east coast killed six people onboard and the crash of an F-16 fighter jet killed a pilot the same year.
In 2016, the navy fired a supersonic missile in error, hitting a fishing boat in waters that separate Taiwan from diplomatic rival China.
China, which claims Taiwan as its territory to be brought under Beijing’s control by force if necessary, regularly calls the island the most sensitive issue in its ties with the United States.