On Feb 5, a blackhawk from the airborne service corps went on a med evac mission to Lanyu to airlift a patient in need of surgery to Taidong.
Soon after the blackhawk took off at Lanyu airport in pretty terrible weather, flight controllers lost contact with the helicopter.
Most of the early news on the 6th focused on the search and rescue mission, but then a major earthquake hit Hualien and brought down two buildings.
They finally disclosed what happened to the blackhawk a week later. It’s been lost at sea, 2 nautical miles west of Lanyu airport, sitting 850 meters under the ocean surface. All 6 on board have been pronounced dead.
Here’s to the brave crew members who braved the storm to save lives.
R.I.P.