Deadly Taiwan helicopter crash ‘won’t affect military operations or defence against Beijing’
- Chief of general staff and seven other senior personnel were killed when Black Hawk chopper went down in mountainous area outside Taipei on Thursday
- Source says ‘this tragedy is unlikely to affect morale to the point where it would have negative impact on our defence against communist forces’
Taiwan’s military suffered a serious loss of top brass in one of its deadliest air crashes on Thursday, but observers said it would not affect operations or the island’s defence against Beijing.
The helicopter was heading from Taipei to a military base in the northeastern city of Yilan for a New Year event for troops stationed there.
But 13 minutes after it took off at 7.54am from Songshan Airport in Taipei, contact was lost and the helicopter went down in the mountainous area of Wulai in New Taipei City, the defence ministry said.
Five other military personnel on board – a major general, two lieutenant generals, a colonel and a military news agency reporter – survived the accident. It was the second deadliest air crash in Taiwan since a military transport plane crashed in the central county of Yunlin in 1990, killing all 18 officers on board, including two major generals.
Shen, a veteran pilot, had taken over as chief of the general staff in July, and was responsible for overseeing the island’s defence to counter mainland China.
