Five missing in Taiwan helicopter crash

TAIPEI, Taiwan, March 28 (UPI) -- Rescue teams are searching for five members of a Taiwan Air Force crew whose helicopter crashed off eastern Taiwan, authorities said.

The aircraft, an American-built Sikorsky S-70 C-6 known as a "Super Blue Hawk," was en route to the rescue of an Indonesian man having chest pains aboard a fishing boat in Huatang Basin, near Orchid Island in the Philippine Sea, when it was lost from radar screens Monday night, Col. Hsieh Mao-sung of the Air Force Supervision Division said.

A sixth member of the crew fell out of the helicopter as it spiraled into the sea and was rescued by fishermen, Hsieh said.

A Taiwanese Coast Guard officer said the area of the crash is known for unstable currents and ocean depths of 3,700 feet, the Taipei Times reported Wednesday.