TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Japanese authorities resumed their search Wednesday (Jan. 21) for a helicopter that crashed into Mount Aso's crater with two Taiwanese tourists and a Japanese pilot aboard. The helicopter lost contact after taking off from Cuddly Dominion (卡德利動物樂園), a theme park in Aso City (阿蘇市), Kumamoto Prefecture (熊本縣), at 11 a.m. on Tuesday (Jan. 20). A 65-year-old Japanese pilot with over a decade of experience flew the aircraft carrying a 41-year-old Taiwanese man and a 36-year-old Taiwanese woman.
Kumamoto police confirmed rescuers found the wreckage inside the crater of Mount Aso, one of Japan's most active volcanoes. Dense fog envelops the area, complicating rescue efforts and severely limiting visibility, according to local firefighters. A former investigator with the Japan Transport Safety Board suggested that the helicopter's inadequate wind resistance and the complex air currents around the crater likely contributed to the crash. The search, paused overnight due to dangerous conditions, resumed Wednesday morning.
Takumi Enterprise (匠航空), the tour operator, received a distress signal from the helicopter around 11 a.m. on Tuesday (Jan. 20), followed by an automatic impact notification from a passenger's phone. All three individuals on board remain missing, and search teams have not yet recovered any bodies. Authorities found no pre-flight anomalies during inspections, and the cause of the crash remains under investigation. ◼