Sightseeing helicopter goes missing in south-west Japan, airframe spotted in volcanic crater
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Aso Cuddly Dominion zoo offers panoramic helicopter rides over the area, which is famed for its volcanic landscapes.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: UNSPLASH
TOKYO – A sightseeing helicopter went missing before noon on Jan 20 near a volcanic crater on Mount Aso in the south-western Japan prefecture of Kumamoto, local firefighters and other sources said, with what appears to be the airframe later found inside the crater.
Two passengers from Taiwan and a 64-year-old Japanese pilot were aboard the helicopter that departed at 10.52am from a zoo in Aso.
Contact was lost about 10 minutes later, according to the helicopter operator Takumi Enterprise in Okayama, western Japan.
The whereabouts of the three are unknown. The local government has reached out to a Taiwanese organisation in Fukuoka, given that there is information that the two passengers were travellers.
The helicopter was on its third sightseeing flight of the day when it went missing, and no abnormalities had been reported during the first two flights, the operator said.
The pilot had more than 40 years of experience, it said.
The zoo, Aso Cuddly Dominion, offers panoramic helicopter rides over the area, which is famed for its volcanic landscapes.
An object resembling the body of a helicopter was found shortly after 4pm on a slope inside the crater of Mount Nakadake, one of the five peaks that make up Mount Aso, according to the firefighters.
Conditions over the area the morning of Jan 20 were cloudy, making it difficult to clearly see Mount Nakadake, according to the Aso Volcano Museum, which is located nearby. KYODO NEWS
