Taipei, Jan 2 (AFP) Taiwanese rescuers were searching for the chief of military staff and two others who went missing after a helicopter crashed landed in a mountain Thursday, the defence ministry said.

The UH-60M helicopter carrying 13 people including chief of general staff for the military Shen Yi-ming made the crash landing in the mountains near Taipei for unknown reasons after taking off for a routine mission to visit soldiers in the northeast Yilan county ahead of the lunar new year, it said in a statement.

The ministry said ten people have been located alive while rescuers were searching for Shen, 62, and two others that were still missing. (AFP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)