TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Kuomintang (KMT) legislative candidate Tsai Shu-hui (蔡淑惠) drew criticism on Saturday (Jan. 4) after accusing the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of causing last week's Black Hawk helicopter crash.

A video posted by DPP Deputy Secretary-General Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) showed Tsai claiming that the campaign event jointly held by all the DPP's legislative candidates on Thursday (Jan. 2) was the "real cause" of the Black Hawk crash that took the lives of eight Taiwanese military officials. While addressing supporters, the former Tainan City councilor warned voters to be wary of the dirty tactics employed by the DPP, including "fake accidents."

Tsai's remark soon attracted public criticism, including from DPP headquarters, which warned Tsai to cease her "political manipulation." Several netizens also took to Facebook to bash Tsai for "disrespecting the deceased" and "using a national tragedy for her benefit," reported Liberty Times.

In a press release issued by Tsai Saturday evening, the KMT candidate apologized for her accusation. She said that no politicians should use the tragic incident as a campaigning tool and that her speech had been deliberately exaggerated by the DPP to harm her reputation, reported ET Today.