TAIPEI: A relief helicopter, carrying out operations in storm-ravaged Wutai township in southern Taiwan's Pingtung county, hit a mountainside and crashed into a valley near the aboriginal settlement of Sandimen yesterday afternoon.

Preliminary reports said the helicopter was carrying five crew members and one nurse, but later, media reported that two fire rescue workers and the nurse had left the aircraft earlier.

Later reports said the helicopter, operated by the "National Airborne Service Corps", carried a pilot, co-pilot and one crew member.

The aircraft was on its way from the Kuijen base to drop goods to Wutai in Pingtung county, reports said.

Another helicopter was on its way to provide assistance, media reports said. No details were known about the fate of the crew involved in the accident. Poor weather conditions might have been responsible, reports said.

Helicopters have played a key role in the rescue effort, airlifting about 266 people on over 40 flights to and from several flooded villages in Kaohsiung county yesterday.

Because of the weather conditions and the destruction of all overland access roads and bridges by the typhoon, efforts to reach the village have been extremely difficult.

Army helicopters found their way into stricken areas, sometimes evading banks of fog. Since they found no place to land, soldiers descended into the mud to help airlift survivors. Those included people who reportedly spent four days at the entrance to a tunnel above a wide stream.

The military reported there was no immediate trace of buildings or other survivors near the village of Hsiaolin in which 400-600 people may be missing.

The helicopters airlifted residents out and down to a school in Chishan, where scuffles erupted between police and residents who felt the rescue effort was progressing too slowly, reports said.

CNA/DPA

(HK Edition 08/12/2009 page2)