Taiwan military chief among 8 killed in helicopter crash

Gen. Shen Yi-ming, the Taiwan military’s chief of general staff, was en route to visit troops when the UH-60M helicopter disappeared from radar near New Taipei City while carrying 13 people, including the crew.Shen was confirmed dead along with seven other people on board, Lt. Gen. Hsiung Hou-chi of Taiwan’s air force told a news conference Thursday afternoon. Five people survived.The helicopter lost contact with base 13 minutes after taking off, at 8:07 a.m. local time, Hsiung said.He said the helicopter’s condition was “not ideal,” and the ministry had set up a task force to investigate the cause of the incident.CNN’s Steven Jiang and Yong Xiong contributed reporting from Beijing