Tourist Helicopter Crashes in Aso, Kumamoto Pref.; Part of Helicopter Found near Mt. Nakadake

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:31 JST, January 21, 2026

Part of a sightseeing helicopter that went missing Tuesday has been found near the volcanic crater of Mt. Nakadake in Kumamoto Prefecture.

The helicopter went missing over Aso, Kumamoto Prefecture, at about 11 a.m. on Tuesday. The pilot and a man and woman believed to be tourists from Taiwan were aboard.

Prefectural police and local fire departments began preparations Wednesday morning to resume the search for the people onboard, whose status remained unknown.

Operated by Takumi Enterprise in Okayama, the helicopter was scheduled to fly for about 10 minutes over Mt. Aso. However, it did not return after the scheduled time of 11 a.m. and a search was launched, according to the prefectural police and the Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism Ministry.

Part of the helicopter was found near the first crater of Mt. Nakadake, one of the five peaks that comprise Mt. Aso, at around 4:10 p.m. on Tuesday. There was fog and cloudy skies around Mt. Nakadake at the time.

The helicopter pilot was in his 60s. The passenger list indicated that the man and woman lived in Taiwan, with the man said to be 41 years old and the woman 36.