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Two pilots in army chopper crash die

ROC Central News Agency

Taipei, July 16 (CNA) Two pilots aboard an army helicopter that crash-landed in northern Taiwan's Taoyuan County Wednesday morning died at a military hospital in the evening, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a press statement.

The pilots, identified as Lt. Colonel Yu Chien-wen and Captain Lee Huang-yu, were pronounced dead hours after they were rushed to a military hospital near the crash site in Taoyuan's Lungtan township, the statement said.

According to the statement, Minister of National Defense Chen Chao-min visited the hospital to extend condolences to the bereaved families of the two pilots upon his return from an inspection tour of the outlying defense outpost of Kinmen, which lies closer to China's southeastern Fujian province than to Taiwan proper.

Chen assured the pilots' families that the ministry will do its utmost to help them in the aftermath of the tragedy and will offer pecuniary aid in accordance with the existing law, the statement said.

According to the regulations, Yu's family could receive NT$15 million (US$493,421) in monetary aid and Lee's family could receive NT$13.80 million.

Chen has also promised to compensate the owners of a four-story house and two parked cars that were damaged or destroyed when the helicopter crashed. Apart from the two pilots, there were no other casualties.

Meanwhile, the press statement said the minister has ordered the grounding of the army fleet of advanced U.S.-made AH-1W attack helicopters for safety checks. Routine training flights will not resume until after the cause of the crash has been determined, the statement said.

The ill-fated chopper was on a routine training mission when it plunged into a house in Lungtan township at 10:14 a.m., the statement said. It was the second crash of an AH-1W in nine years.

The defense ministry has organized a task force to investigate the cause of latest incident. (By Sofia Wu) enditem /pc