Li pledges USD14.5 million for search of MH370

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang pledged an additional USD14.5 million to fund the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 that disappeared more than a year ago with 239 people aboard. Li made the announcement Saturday during a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in Malaysia, where Asia-Pacific leaders are holding a regional summit. The MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. French investigators have identified a washed-up piece of airplane debris found in July on a remote island in the Indian Ocean as part of the Boeing 777. A multinational search has so far covered millions of square kilometers in the southern Indian Ocean at a cost of more than $120 million. Most of the passengers were Chinese, and the Chinese government has vowed to spare no effort to locate and recover the plane.

Taiwan | Helicopter crash kills 2 on board

A service helicopter crashed yesterday outside of Taiwan’s capital, killing both people on board, the government-run Central News Agency reported. Pilot Chen Hsiu-ming and electrical worker Yu Hui-hsien died when the chopper crashed in New Taipei, a city that surrounds the Taiwanese capital of Taipei, CNA said. The crash did not cause a fire or other collateral damage, but the agency provided no further details on the incident. It identified the chopper as a Bell 206 jet ranger. Emerald Pacific Airlines, which owns the chopper, said on its Facebook page that the helicopter was cleaning up an electric pylon for the Taiwan Power Company when it crashed. The aviation company provides helicopter services for large-scale construction projects.

Coalmine fire kills 21 workers, Xinhua says

A state-owned coal mine caught fire on Friday in northeast China’s Heilongjiang province, leaving 21 workers dead and one missing, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing the local government. The incident is under control and 16 workers managed to escape, Xinhua said, without further elaborating. A total of 38 miners were working in the mine, operated by the provincial government’s Heilongjiang Longmay Mining Holding Group Co., when the fire broke out, according to the report.