• Tourist Helicopter Carrying 3 People Disappears Near Mount Aso
• Police Spot Object Resembling Helicopter Inside Volcano Crater

Japanese authorities announced the disappearance of a tourist helicopter carrying three people near Mount Aso, one of the country’s most active volcanoes.

Local reports, citing police, said the aircraft took off from a zoo in Aso City at 10:52 a.m. local time on Tuesday for a 10-minute sightseeing flight, but failed to return to its departure point.

A police helicopter later spotted an object resembling the missing aircraft inside the Nakadake crater, one of Mount Aso’s five peaks, at around 4:00 p.m., though officials have not yet confirmed whether it is the missing helicopter.

The 64-year-old pilot was highly experienced, with 40 years of flying experience, while the two passengers, a man and a woman, were from Taiwan.

The helicopter was on its third sightseeing flight of the day when it went missing, having completed two earlier trips without incident.

Cloudy weather conditions were recorded over the Nakadake area on Tuesday, prompting search operations to be suspended in the evening before resuming on Wednesday morning.

The operating company halted all flights following the incident, according to a local news agency.

Helicopter tours over Mount Aso’s volcanic landscapes are among the main tourist attractions in Kumamoto Prefecture in southwestern Japan.

It is worth noting that the same aircraft made an emergency landing in 2024, injuring three people on board, while Mount Aso last erupted in October 2021, sending a massive column of smoke into the sky.