The remains of a sightseeing helicopter that disappeared near an active volcano in Japan have been located by authorities. Police searching the volcanic landscape of Mount Aso in Kumamoto Prefecture revealed the discovery of what seemed to be an aircraft near Nakadake’s primary crater. Japanese media later confirmed that the wreckage belonged to the missing helicopter.
The helicopter, carrying two Taiwanese tourists and a Japanese pilot, vanished around 11 am local time while touring the area. After hours of searching, a police helicopter spotted the missing aircraft at approximately 4.10 pm. The alarm was raised when Takumi Air, the helicopter’s operator, received a distress signal from the aircraft. Subsequently, the fire department received a notification indicating an impact on a smartphone, which belonged to one of the passengers on board.
Additionally, a security guard near the crater reported hearing a sound resembling a collision at the time the helicopter disappeared, as stated by the Aso Mountaintop Office. The tour agency operating the helicopter, which was scheduled to land at Mount Aso at 11.10 am after departing from Cuddly Dominion, initiated a rescue operation upon its failure to arrive. Various helicopters, including those from the police and firefighting departments, were dispatched for the search, aided by the Japan Self-Defense Forces as per Kumamoto Prefecture Governor Takashi Kimura.
Despite encountering heavy fog, search efforts were hindered, although signals from the aircraft were detected. The passengers have been identified as a 41-year-old man and a 36-year-old woman from Taiwan, along with a 64-year-old Japanese male pilot, as reported by Kumamoto Nichinichi Shimbun.
Mount Aso, Japan’s second-largest active volcano, is believed to have been shaped by massive eruptions between 300,000 and 90,000 years ago. Mount Nakadake, one of Aso’s peaks, features seven craters, including an active crater known as crater one, measuring 600 meters in diameter and 130 meters deep, with a circumference of approximately 4 kilometers.