Helicopter crash kills Taiwan's top military officer, 7 others

Courtesy by NBC NEWS
By Associated Press
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan's top military official was killed in an air force helicopter crash Thursday morning that killed seven other people, the defense ministry said. Five people survived the crash in mountains outside the capital.

As chief of the general staff, Gen. Shen Yi-ming was responsible for overseeing the island's defense against China, which threatens to use military force to annex what it considers it own territory.

The helicopter was flying from Taipei to the northeastern city of Ilan for a new year's activity when it crashed.

According to Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense, 13 people were on the UH-60M Blackhawk helicopter, which took off shortly after 7:50 a.m. from Taipei's Songshan air force base 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.