The search for a missing tourist helicopter near a volcanic area in Japan has ended with the discovery of the wreckage. Police found what appeared to be an aircraft near the first crater of Mount Aso’s Nakadake. The helicopter, carrying two Taiwanese tourists and a Japanese pilot, went missing during a sightseeing trip but was located by a police helicopter after hours of searching.
The alarm was raised when the helicopter’s operator received a distress signal and a smartphone associated with one of the passengers registered an impact. A security guard near the crater reported hearing a sound around the time the helicopter disappeared. Despite the identification of signals from the aircraft, search efforts were hindered by heavy fog.
Mount Aso, Japan’s second-largest active volcano, boasts numerous craters including the active crater one at Nakadake, measuring 600 meters in diameter and 130 meters deep. The passengers aboard the missing helicopter have been identified as a 41-year-old man and a 36-year-old woman from Taiwan, along with a 64-year-old Japanese pilot. The Japan Self-Defense Forces were called in to assist in the search operation.