Republic of China (ROC) Chief of General Staff Shen Yi-ming, Taiwan’s top military officer, was killed along with seven others in a helicopter crash on Thursday.
Five others were rescued from the crash, which occurred after the helicopter declared it was attempting an emergency landing in the mountainous Wulai district of Taiwan.
Gen. Shen was flying in a UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter from Shongshan Air Base in Taipei to conduct a routine inspection at a military base in Dong’ao when the chopper went down. He was 62 years old and fairly new to his post, having assumed the position of Chief of the General Staff in July.
Taiwan’s CNA news agency identified all of the fatalities and survivors on Thursday:
The seven other confirmed fatalities were Political Warfare Bureau Deputy Director Major General Yu Chin-wen, Major General Hung Hung-chun of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence, Major Huang Sheng-hang of the Office of the Chief of the General Staff, Chief Master Sergent Han Cheng-hung, chopper pilot Lieutenant Colonel Yeh Chien-yi, co-pilot Captain Liu Chen-fu, and Crew Chief Master Sergeant Hsu Hung-pin.
The five survivors have been identified as Lieutenant General Huang Yu-min, Lieutenant General Tsao Chin-ping, Major General Liu Hsiao-tang, Lieutenant Colonel Chou Hsin-yi, and Military News Agency reporter Chen Ying-chu.
It was Chen who sent out a message for help after the chopper crashed.
The cause of the crash is still unknown, even though some of the survivors have been able to make public statements. The helicopter took off from Taipei at 7:54 in the morning and dropped off radar just 13 minutes later. Two other Black Hawk helicopters and some 80 ground troops were quickly dispatched on a rescue mission.
Taiwanese Air Force commander Hsiung Hou-chi said an investigation into if the cause of the crash was “environmental or mechanical” is underway and promised an update Thursday afternoon. He noted the condition of the crashed helicopter was “not ideal” for forensic analysis, while the supervisor of the rescue operation said the mountains where the crash occurred have seen heavy rain over the past few days.
Lt. Gen. Tsao Ching-ping, one of the survivors, said in a televised interview on Thursday that he was the only survivor who could walk and several of the others were in critical condition. Tsao’s comments, and those of some other officials, suggested rescuers are still working to remove some of the survivors from the crash site.
The Hong Kong Free Press noted there have been several crashes and crash landings involving U.S.-made Black Hawk helicopters in Taiwan over the past few years, including a 2018 crash during a medical mission that killed six people.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen ordered flags flown at half-mast to honor the dead on Thursday. Both she and her chief rival in the January presidential election, Han Kuo-yu of the Kuomintang party, temporarily suspended campaign activities.
The New York Post noted that Shen’s death is a blow to the Taiwanese military since he was regarded as an exceptional officer, as were the others who died with him, and he was “responsible for overseeing the self-governing island’s defense against China.”
Before that, Shen was instrumental in overseeing Taiwan’s upgrade of its air forces to include the advanced U.S.-made F-16V jet fighter.
The NYP article danced around the possibility of foul play, an accusation no one has officially leveled yet, by suggesting Beijing would not be sad to see Shen and so many other top Taiwanese military officers killed less than two weeks before a presidential election. The NYP quoted analysts who doubted the incident would have a significant impact on the election, which President Tsai is heavily favored to win.
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