Taiwan’s top military chief among eight killed in helicopter crash

General Shen Yi-ming dies after military aircraft carrying 13 people comes down near Taipei

Rescuers search for survivors after a military Black Hawk helicopter crashed in mountains near Taipei, in Taiwan, killing eight people, 2 January, 2020. (Yilan County Fire Department/AFP)

Taiwan’s top military officer has died in a helicopter crash alongside seven other people.

General Shen Yi-ming, chief of general staff, was on the Black Hawk helicopter with 12 others when it crashed during an emergency landing in mountains outside the capital city Taipei.

Five people survived the crash, according to the country’s defence ministry.

The helicopter took off from Taipei’s Songshan air force base shortly after 7.50am on Thursday and was on its way to a base in Yilan County on the east coast.

Just over 10 minutes later, it dropped from the radar screen and went down in the mountainous, heavily-forested Wulai area southeast of the capital.

It will likely be months before the cause of the crash is known, but the pilots, both of whom were killed, appeared to have been highly experienced.

Mr Shen had taken over as chief of the general staff in July after serving as commander of Taiwan’s air force.

He was responsible for overseeing the island’s defence against China, which threatens to use military force to annex what it considers its own territory.

Shen Yi-ming, Taiwan military's chief of general staff, who was among eight people killed during a helicopter crash near Taipei, Taiwan, 2 January, 2020. (AP Photo/Johnson Lai, File)

Alexander Huang, a strategic studies professor at Tamkang University in Taiwan who had known Mr Shen for a decade, said he had stood out as a pilot and an officer.

He said: “He was very calm and very stable and unlike other army guys he was always smiling, so he got a specific leadership style that also made him a popular leader in the entire military.”

Taiwan’s military has operated Black Hawks for decades and in 2010 completed a sale for another 60 UH-60M Black Hawks from the US for $3.1bn.

The Black Hawk that crashed was a model dedicated to search and rescue and had been delivered in 2018, according to the ministry.

The loss of Mr Shen and other high-ranking officials will require a rapid reshuffle of positions but should have a minimal effect on Taiwan’s 11 January elections for president and lawmakers, according to Andrew Yang, a former deputy minister for policy.

Additional reporting by Associated Press.