{"id":175593,"date":"2026-01-21T13:55:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T04:55:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/?post_type=news&#038;p=175593&#038;lang=en"},"modified":"2026-01-21T13:55:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T04:55:24","slug":"helicopter-missing-over-mt-aso","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/news\/helicopter-missing-over-mt-aso\/","title":{"rendered":"Helicopter Missing Over Mt. Aso"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A sightseeing helicopter carrying three people, including two Taiwanese tourists, went missing over Mt. Aso in Kumamoto Prefecture on the morning of January 20. The aircraft departed from the Aso Cuddly Dominion facility at around 11:00 a.m. and was due to land near the summit ten minutes later but failed to arrive. Takumi Aviation of Okayama Prefecture, which operated the flight, reported receiving a distress signal just before one passenger\u2019s smartphone detected an impact. A security guard near the crater also reported hearing a loud sound. Police, firefighters, and Self-Defense Force helicopters continue to search the area, and the aircraft\u2019s signal has reportedly been detected. <\/span><b>Source<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/kumanichi.com\/articles\/1948314\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kumamoto Nichinichi Shimbun<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \/ <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kab.co.jp\/news\/article\/16297140\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">KAB News<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-175594\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/fnn_aso-helicopter-news_WEB-001.jpg?resize=1400%2C933&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"1400\" height=\"933\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/fnn_aso-helicopter-news_WEB-001.jpg?w=1400&amp;ssl=1 1400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/fnn_aso-helicopter-news_WEB-001.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/fnn_aso-helicopter-news_WEB-001.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/fnn_aso-helicopter-news_WEB-001.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/>Photo: Fukuoka Now (for image purpose only)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stay informed with the latest Fukuoka &amp; Kyushu news and events in English. Sign up for our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/mailmagazine\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">free weekly newsletter <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">today and never miss a beat. Opt out anytime, your privacy is our priority. Get the inside scoop with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/mailmagazine\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Now<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Summaries based on public content, errors may occur during translation. Images credited independently. Send feedback using <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/contact\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">this <\/span><b>form<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A sightseeing helicopter carrying three people, including two Taiwanese tourists, went missing over Mt. Aso in Kumamoto Prefecture on the morning of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30292,"featured_media":175594,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"class_list":["post-175593","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","location-aso","location-kumamoto-prefecture","news-category-general","en-US"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/175593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175593"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}