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Members of the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense were traveling by helicopter in northern Taiwan when the aircraft crashed, killing eight people on board, including the Chief-of-Staff Shen Yi-ming.
At least eight people were killed on Thursday after a Black Hawk military helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing in the Wulai District of northern Taiwan, Taiwanese officials announced.
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In the helicopter, were 13 people military personnel, including senior officials from the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense. Among the Ministry of Defense officials in the helicopter was the Taiwanese Chielf-of-Staff, Shen Yi-ming, who was among the eight people reported dead.
The aircraft, which disappeared from the radar at 8:00 A.M. (local time), was scheduled to travel to a military base in Dongao. The Black Hawk chopper would never arrive at its destination, as it reportedly made a crash landing in the mountainous region of the Wulai District.
Taiwan's air force sent two more Black Hawk helicopters and about 80 soldiers to the scene near Tonghou Creek in Wulai, the official Central News Agency reported.
Citing a Taiwanese official, the UK state-owned BBC News Agency reported that the search and rescue team tried to get to the scene as quickly as possible but efforts were complicated by the terrain.
According to Taiwanese officials, the reason for the crash landing is still unknown, as the military is currently investigating the situation.
For her part, the Taiwanese President, Tsai Ing-wen, expressed her condolences in the wake of the accident and confirmed that they will do "everything possible" to investigate the causes of the accident.
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