Helicopter crashes amid poor visibility; pilot dead

A two-seat helicopter spun out of control in thick fog yesterday and crashed into a river in Kaohsiung county, killing the pilot, witnesses and emergency workers said.

The US-made Rogerson Hiller UH-12 chopper, owned by the domestic Emerald Pacific Airlines (-?CHINESE>?戙隤?, had been chartered to spray pesticide over banana farms along the banks of Kaoping Creek (高?溪) yesterday morning, officials said.

The crash took place at 10:15am when the chopper was about to return to base after having completed its mission.

The pilot, identified as Tsui Hung-jen (崔鴻??, 36, died at the scene of the crash after apparently drowning in the Kaoping River, according to an official from the Kaohsiung County search and rescue brigade.

The copilot, Lai Hung-chieh (賴宏杰), also 36, suffered minor head injuries but was in a stable condition in hospital, the official said.

Emerald Pacific Airlines had apparently approved the flight despite the poor visibility, according to reports.

Two local residents working in the area said they managed to pull the copilot out of the chopper after the crash.

The residents said they set out on a raft immediately after the crash in order to rescue the pilots.

They saw Tsui swimming toward the bank at the time, but he turned back and swam toward the chopper before he drowned, they said.

The Kaohsiung County search and rescue brigade and firefighters found Tsui's body at around 11am.

Company officials said that the helicopter had been commissioned by the Taiwan Provincial Fruit Marketing Cooperative to spray their lands with pesticides 10 times a year, and that this was the eighth mission.

Officials of the four-year-old carrier, based in Taichung, central Taiwan, said that they were still trying to determine the cause of the crash.