The helicopter first hit a three-story building before it crash-landed in a narrow lane of the village, crushing two cars nearby, according to the Taoyuan Fire Department.

The two-seat Cobra attack chopper crash-landed on the third section of Fulung Road in Lungtan township in Taoyuan at 10:14 a.m., said a fire department official.

The chopper fell to the ground between two rows of apartment buildings, with one of its propellers slashing through the outer wall of an apartment unit.

Nobody in the building or on the ground was injured.

Military officers said the pilots were on a routine training flight when the accident occurred.

Rescuers were immediately sent to save the pilots -- Lieutenant Colonel Yu Chien-wen, 41, and his co-pilot Captain Lee Huang-yu, 27 -- and rushed them to hospital for emergency treatment, said Chen Chien-tsai, a military commander.

The two men showed no signs of life when they were taken to the Armed Forces General Hospital nearby. They were declared dead by the doctors after more than six hours of fruitless emergency rescue efforts.

The airborne army command said it was investigating the cause of the accident and did not rule out mechanical trouble.

The accident did not cause injuries to any civilians, and the owner of the destroyed building, that was only recently renovated, had yet to move in, police said.

Lt. Col. Lee was giving Capt. Yu a training session in the morning. The mishap took place about one minute before they were scheduled to fly back to the base, according to Chen.

Lee and Yu had logged 1,200 and 320 flight hours respectively, he said.

No weapons were carried by the attack chopper because it was a training session, he explained.

It was the first crash of an attack helicopter of the army since another accident killed eight crew members on April 3 last year.

Taiwan acquired about 40 of the AH-1W Cobra attack helicopters in the 1990s to form the backbone of the Army's airborne forces.

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