(CNN) Taiwan's top military official was among eight people killed on Thursday when their Black Hawk helicopter crashed in mountains in the north of the island.

Gen. Shen Yi-ming, 62, the Taiwan military's chief of general staff, was en route to visit troops when the UH-60M helicopter disappeared from radar near New Taipei City while carrying 13 people, including the crew.

Shen was confirmed dead along with seven other people on board, Lt. Gen. Hsiung Hou-chi of Taiwan's air force told a news conference Thursday afternoon. Five people survived.

The helicopter lost contact with base 13 minutes after taking off, at 8:07 a.m. local time, Hsiung said. He added the helicopter's condition was "not ideal," and the ministry had set up a task force to investigate the cause of the incident.

Taiwan's top military official Gen. Shen Yi-ming was killed in the crash.

There was initial hope that Shen had survived, when the New Taipei City fire department announced in the morning that the general had been rescued from the scene. Department spokesman Chen Hao-feng had told CNN that Shen was found conscious by a search team and sent to hospital. But he later clarified that it was a miscommunication from the command center.

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