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
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
Japan and the Philippines yesterday signed a defense pact that would allow the tax-free provision of ammunition, fuel, food and other necessities when their forces stage joint training to boost deterrence against China’s growing aggression in the region and to bolster their preparation for natural disasters. Japan has faced increasing political, trade and security tensions with China, which was angered by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remark that a Chinese attack on Taiwan would be a survival-threatening situation for Japan, triggering a military response. Japan and the Philippines have also had separate territorial conflicts with Beijing in the East and South China
RSS