The pilot of an F-16 air force jet that went missing yesterday while taking part in the live-fire drills of the annual Han Kuang exercise has been confirmed dead, after rescuers found body parts and other items on Wufenshan (五分山) in New Taipei City.
The air force’s forensic science unit confirmed that the remains belonged to 31-year-old Major Wu Yen-ting (吳彥霆) of the 12th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, the Ministry of National Defense said in a statement last night.
Searchers had found blood-stained pieces of the pilot’s anti-G suit and other clothing, as well as body parts in trees at the crash site, it said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The confirmation of identification came just hours after officers from the 5th Tactical Composite Wing had held an evening press event at the Hualien Air Force Base.
Wu was flying an F-16 with the tail number 6648, which took off from the base at 1:09pm and radar contact was lost at 1:43pm over northern Taiwan, Air Force Command Headquarters had said earlier in the day.
Residents in New Taipei City and Keelung were quoted by local Chinese-language media as saying they heard a loud bang that appeared to come from the mountainous areas around New Taipei City’s Ruifang (瑞芳) and Nuannuan (暖暖) districts.
Photo courtesy of New Taipei City Fire Department
The National Airborne Service Corps and firefighters from Keelung, New Taipei City and Yilan County were deployed to help in the search and rescue efforts.
A hiker telephoned the New Taipei City Fire Department at 3:22pm to say he had found the possible wreckage of the jet, the department said.
At 4:18pm firefighters found what appeared to be the crash site on the Wufenshan hiking trail about 3km from the meteorological radar observatory, the department added.
Photo: Yu Tai-lang, Taipei Times
Firefighters found “a substantial quantity” of debris, including a yellow military drag parachute, many toppled trees, skid marks and a 100m long gash in the woods, it said.
About 6pm, rescuers discovered what they suspected to be human remains and pieces of personal equipment, including the pilot’s G-suit and insignia, which were sent for examination by forensic technicians, officers told the Hualien news conference, which was attended by Major General Hsieh Ming-te (謝明德), director of political warfare at the 6th Army Corps.
Military personnel had identified the parachute as a fighter jet’s drag chute from a photograph taken by the search team.
Photo: CNA
Minister of National Defense Yen De-fa (嚴德發) and Chief of General Staff Admiral Lee Hsi-ming (李喜明) had directed rescue efforts from the Joint Operations Command Center and the Air Force Operational Command Center in Taipei, respectively, the defense ministry said.
The search mission was suspended at 8 pm due to poor visibility, but is scheduled to resume early today to look for more parts of the wreckage.
The air force temporarily grounded all of its F-16s until further notice.
The Office of the Inspector-general of the ministry and the Air Force Command have been ordered to create a task force to investigate the cause of the crash and to enhance safety standards during aerial exercises, the ministry said.
Air Force Command Headquarters said Wu was a 2009 graduate of the Air Force Academy and had 1,039 hours of flight time, including 736 hours in F-16 jets.
Wu had survived a crash in 2013, when his fighter jet’s starter experienced a failure that resulted in loss of power during an interception training, sources said.
He had been able to eject from the aircraft and suffered light injuries, the sources said.
Wu was from Yilan County’s Dongshan Township (冬山).
He is survived by his wife, Lin Fang-ying (林芳瑩), who is also in the air force.
They met when they were stationed at Chiayi Airport and married in 2014.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Yen expressed their condolences and pledged compensation to Wu’s family.
Additional reporting by Yu Heng, Yu Chao-fu, Wang Chin-yi and CNA
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —