Prosecutors are investigating the circumstances of a helicopter crash on Friday, in which two crew members were killed and three others injured, after a Coast Guard Administration officer said that the downed aircraft was not on a search-and-rescue operation, but was instead carrying out a mission related to the interests of Taiwanese shipping company TS Lines Co (德翔海運).
The Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday said it has opened an investigation into the crash of a National Airborne Service Corps helicopter into the sea just off the coast of New Taipei City’s Shihmen District (石門) in inclement weather to determine whether human error, a mechanical failure or something else caused the crash.
Prosecutors are also looking into whether it was TS Lines Co or the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) that requested helicopter missions to aid the company’s cargo ship, and whether the request to the corps was legitimate and followed proper procedures.
The downed AS365 Dauphin helicopter had transported a team of six technicians for post-rescue operations to a TS Lines Co cargo ship, which lost power in rough seas on Thursday and ran aground on a shallow reef about 300m offshore with 21 crew on board.
A coast guard officer who was engaged in missions related to the grounded ship said the six technicians were working on behalf of the shipping company to assess damage to the vessel and the extent of pollution from leaked fuel.
A dispute over the use of the aircraft ensued, as the technicians the helicopter transported to the ship were not EPA inspectors or staff, as initially presented by officials and reported by the media on Friday.
“Government agencies should only undertake missions to save people’s lives, not to save private property, which, due to the cost, the shipping company should be responsible for,” said the officer, who asked not to be named.
“As the damaged ship was leaking fuel and polluting the environment, a fine can be levied against the company. However, we do not understand how government agencies are dealing with the situation, because no judicial investigators were on the case, while a government helicopter was loaned for the shipping company’s purposes,” he said.
Prosecutors are verifying allegations that either the EPA or TS Lines Co requested corps helicopter sorties to “conduct assessments of environmental pollution.”
In related news, Corps Duty Command Center Director Lin Cheng-hsun (林政勳) yesterday said the condition of Chu Yao-chung (朱耀忠), the copilot rescued from the downed helicopter, has improved considerably, but he was still in intensive care.
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