Taiwan's top military official missing after helicopter makes emergency landing
02 January, 2020
Taiwan's top military official was among three people missing on Thursday (Jan 2) after a helicopter made an emergency landing in a mountainous northern area near the capital Taipei, the defence ministry said.
In a statement, the ministry said it had sent a team to rescue the 13 people aboard the Black Hawk helicopter, who included Taiwan's chief of general staff, Air Force General Shen Yi-ming, and several survivors had been found.
"Some crew are still trapped inside, while some have come out," a military spokesman told a news conference broadcast live on television, although further details would not be available until troops reached the area of the crash.
The helicopter made the emergency landing in New Taipei City after aviation authorities lost contact with it at 8.22am, the ministry said.
Air force commander Hsiung Hou-chi said the aircraft disappeared from radar less than 15 minutes after taking off and the ministry has set up a taskforce to investigate the incident.
"The search and rescue operation continues... We are investigating whether (the cause) was environmental or mechanical... the aircraft's condition is not ideal," Hsiung told reporters.
"We hope everyone can be safe and we should know the results this afternoon," he said, adding that the ministry has dispatched ground troops and rescue helicopters for the operation.
An air force official said some on board were "trapped under fragments of the helicopter" without elaborating.
Hou You-yi, mayor of New Taipei City where the crash landing site was, said 11 people have been rescued while two were still unaccounted for without identifying them.
A New Taipei City fire department official told local TV stations that Shen had been found alive, although the defence ministry was yet to confirm.
"It had been raining in the mountains in the past few days, the mountain roads are muddy and very steep. We are racing against time," said Chen Chung-chi, a supervisor of the operation.
The incident comes a week before democratic Taiwan holds presidential and parliamentary elections on Jan 11.
President Tsai Ing-wen, who is seeking re-election, cancelled election campaign activities scheduled for Thursday, and urged authorities to make every effort for the rescue.
The United States, which has no diplomatic ties with Taiwan but is its strongest international backer and main arms supplier, sold it 60 UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters in 2010.
It was not immediately clear whether the helicopter involved in Thursday's incident was one of these.
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.
Taiwan says it is an independent country called the Republic of China, its official name.
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