Move FM Global News

TAIPEI, Taiwan – A Black Hawk helicopter with twelve people, including top Taiwanese military officials, on board has crashed near Tonghou Creek in Wulai, near the capital Taipei, on Thursday, according to the Republic of China (Taiwan)’s official Central News Agency.

The Taiwan military’s Chief of Staff Shen Yi-ming, two top generals, and other seniors military officials were among those killed.

At the time of writing the official death toll is eight, with four people having suffered injuries.

Defence officials later named the two generals killed. They were 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.

A lieutenant colonel, a captain, a major and two senior master sergeants were also among the dead, according to a briefing given at 11:00am local time.

The helicopter, flying in poor visibility amidst poor weather conditions attempted a forced landing when the crash occurred. It had taken off from Songshan air base in Taipei at 07:54 local time.

The military officials were flying to an army base in Yilan County in the north-east of the country.

The Taiwan Air Force dispatched two more Black Hawk choppers and deployed eighty soldiers to the crash scene to assist in search and rescue operations.

The president of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen cancelled her election campaigning. The national election is due on 11 January. She flew to Yilan on Thursday afternoon in her capacity as commander-in-chief of Taiwan’s armed forces.

“This is a very sorrowful day,” the president said. “There were several capable, high-ranking officers who died at their posts in today’s incident, and they were the most capable of our military, particularly Chief of Staff Shen.”

(Photo credit: Yilan County Fire Bureau).