Taiwan's military chief of staff missing after helicopter crash

Taiwanese rescuers were searching for the chief of military staff and two others who went missing after a helicopter crashed landed in a mountain Thursday, the defence ministry said.

The UH-60M helicopter carrying 13 people including chief of general staff for the military Shen Yi-ming made the crash landing in the mountains near Taipei for unknown reasons after taking off for a routine mission to visit soldiers in the northeast Yilan county ahead of the lunar new year, it said in a statement.

The ministry said ten people have been located alive while rescuers were searching for Shen, 62, and two others that were still missing.