Taiwan navy grounds anti-submarine helicopters after accident injures four crew

Taiwan’s navy grounded its fleet of Sikorsky S-70C anti-submarine helicopters for safety checks on Wednesday after one of them made a hard landing that injured four crew, in the latest accident for the island’s armed forces.

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The navy said Wednesday’s incident happened during an exercise at Zuoying, the main naval base in the south, leading to the grounding and an investigation into what had happened.

In a separate statement, the presidential office said one of the crew suffered serious injuries and was not yet out of danger.

Sikorsky is a unit of Lockheed Martin Corp.

Last month the air force suspended flight training of new pilots after a jet trainer crashed, killing the pilot, in the force’s second fatal accident of 2022.

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