The black box from the UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter that crashed killing Chief of the General Staff Shen Yi-ming (沈一鳴) has been recovered, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday.
The nation was in mourning after the helicopter carrying military personnel to Dongaoling Base (東澳嶺) in Yilan County went down in the mountains of New Taipei City’s Wulai District (烏來) on Thursday with 13 people on board. Eight died in the crash.
Military investigators recovered the flight recorder from the site of the crash at about 10:40am yesterday and were transporting it to the Taiwan Transportation Safety Board, which would be responsible for interpreting the data, the ministry said.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of National Defense via CNA
Board Executive Director Michael Guan (官文霖) estimated that recovered flight data would be interpreted within one to three days, depending on its condition.
The ministry has formed a task force that would investigate potential causes of the crash.
Shen was the highest-ranking military official to die while on duty. Flags at all military units have been at half-mast and all the nation’s Black Hawks have been grounded for safety checks.
Tri-Service General Hospital superintendent Tsai Chien-sung (蔡建松) yesterday said that the five people who survived the crash were all in stable condition.
The five were identified as Lieutenant General Huang Yu-min (黃佑民), Lieutenant General Tsao Chin-ping (曹進平), Major General Liu Hsiao-tang (劉孝堂), Lieutenant Colonel Chou Hsin-yi (周欣頤) and Military News Agency reporter Chen Ying-chu (陳映竹).
Tsao and Liu suffered only minor injuries and were both able to walk, Tsai said, adding that they were still under observation and no date had been set for their discharge from hospital.
Huang sustained compression fractures of the spine, fractured left ribs and a slight contusion of the lungs, but his vital signs remain stable, Tsai said.
Chen’s left leg was crushed and she suffered a lumbar fracture, but she did not require surgery, Tsai said.
She was to remain under observation in intensive care for a few more days before being moved to a ward, he added.
Additional reporting by AFP
DEATH THREAT: A MAC official said that it has urged Beijing to avoid creating barriers that would impede exchanges across the Strait, but it continues to do so People should avoid unnecessary travel to China after Beijing issued 22 guidelines allowing its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death “Taiwan independence separatists,” the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday as it raised its travel alert for China, including Hong Kong and Macau, to “orange.” The guidelines published last week “severely threaten the personal safety of Taiwanese traveling to China, Hong Kong and Macau,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a news conference in Taipei. “Following a comprehensive assessment, the government considers it necessary to elevate the travel alert to orange from yellow,” Liang said. Beijing has
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday said that the Chinese Communist Party was planning and implementing “major” reforms, ahead of a political conclave that is expected to put economic recovery high on the agenda. Chinese policymakers have struggled to reignite growth since late 2022, when restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted. The world’s second-largest economy is beset by a debt crisis in the property sector, persistently low consumption and high unemployment among young people. Policymakers “are planning and implementing major measures to further deepen reform in a comprehensive manner,” Xi said in a speech at the Great Hall
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
SOLUTIONS NEEDED: Taiwan must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers due to population decline, the minister of economic affairs said in Washington President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration is considering a plan to import labor to deal with an impending shortage of engineers and other highly skilled workers, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said in Washington on Tuesday. Kuo was leading a delegation attending the SelectUSA Investment Summit. Taiwan must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers for high-end manufacturing jobs by 2040, he said. Ministry of Economic Affairs officials are still calculating the precise number of workers that are needed, as it works on loosening immigration restrictions and creating incentives, Kuo said. Taiwanese firms operating factories in the US and other countries would