Black box of crashed Taiwan military chopper located

The black box from a Taiwanese helicopter that crashed killing its military chief has been recovered, the defence ministry said yesterday.

The island is in mourning after the Black Hawk carrying the chief of general staff Shen Yi-ming and seven senior officers smashed into the mountains near Taipei on Thursday, just days ahead of national elections.

The general and his entourage were on a routine mission to visit soldiers in the northeast for the upcoming Lunar New Year. Investigators located the military helicopter’s flight data recorder on Friday and it will be analysed to help determine the cause of the crash.

Shen, 62, was the highest-ranking Taiwanese military official to die while on duty. Flags at all military units have been at half mast since Thursday. The UH-60M helicopter was carrying 13 people in total, with five surviving the crash.

It disappeared from radar less than 15 minutes after taking off, and did not send a distress call before it perished.