Taiwan’s top military leader among eight dead in Black Hawk chopper crash
- Chief of staff, two major generals and other senior military personnel killed
- Helicopter’s last communication was less than 15 minutes after take-off
Taiwan’s military chief of staff and seven others were killed when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed in a mountainous region in the northern part of the island on Thursday morning, officials said.
Taiwan’s air force commander Hsiung Hou-chi confirmed the deaths of Chief of Staff Shen Yi-ming and seven others on Thursday afternoon, after the UH-60M craft carrying 13 military personnel force landed in New Taipei county’s Wulai district earlier in the day.
Among the dead were two major generals – Political Warfare Bureau deputy director Yu Chin-wen and Hung Hung-chin, from the defence ministry’s office of the deputy chief of the general staff for intelligence. Also killed were a lieutenant colonel, a captain, a major and two senior master sergeants.
Taiwan’s defence ministry said the location of the craft had been identified and that two Black Hawks and about 80 officers had been dispatched to the scene. Taiwanese media later released images of the rescuers surveying the crash site.
Taiwanese media and a director from the New Taipei City’s fire department said earlier that Shen had been found and sent to hospital. The five survivors include new deputy chief of logistics for general staff Huang Yu-min, deputy chief of general staff for communications Major General Tsao Chin-ping and Military News Agency reporter Chen Ying-ju.