Manila Bulletin Online
9 feared dead in PAF plane crash
spacer
Wreckage, 2 bodies found in waters off Davao City
Air, sea search continues for lost transport plane
By MIKE CRISMUNDO, RONNIEL DE GUZMAN, ANJO PEREZ, LOUIE PEREZ, SARAH HILOMEN, YUL MALICSE, and ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAMP PANACAN, Davao City – The wreckage of a Philippine Air Force (PAF) C-130 Hercules transport plane carrying two pilots and seven crew members that went missing shortly after takeoff from the Davao International Airport Monday night has been recovered off the shore of Davao City, the military said yesterday.
Rescuers recovered the bodies of two of the passengers.
Maj. Armand Rico, EastMincom spokesman, said the identities of the two victims whose bodies were found were temporarily withheld pending notification of their next of kin. Meanwhile, rescue operations continued in the coastal area of Bukana, located between Davao City and Samal Island.
Authorities identified the aircraft’s pilot as Maj. Manuel Sambrano and his co-pilot as Capt. Adrian de Dios, both graduates of the Philippine Military Academy Class 1999 and both considered seasoned military flyers.
The crew members were Flight Technical Sergeant Constantino Lobregat and Staff Sergeants John Arriola, Gerry Delioso, Felix Pedro Patriarga, Petronilo Fernandez, Patricio Claur Jr., and Aldrin Ilustrisimo.
Authorities said they have not ruled out sabotage in the crash, which occurred while the military was engaged in pitched battles against separatist Muslim rebels in Mindanao.
A search team from the Air Force, Naval rescue, and the military’s Eastern Mindanao Command (EastMincom) found the wreckage about three kilometers from the shore of Barangay Bukana, San Pedro Extension, Davao City. at 6 a.m. yesterday.
PAF chief Lt. Gen. Pedrito Cadungog said earlier that search and rescue operations for the missing military cargo aircraft centered on an area within 20 miles of the Davao International Airport.
Wreckage believed to be parts of the transport plane and human body parts were recovered as early as Monday night.
With the help of fishermen and villagers from Barangay Bukana and Agdao Village in Davao City, rescuers plucked aircraft parts from the sea, including metal shards and plane tires, as well as personal items such as combat boots, military uniforms, identification cards, and driver’s licenses.
Fishermen also salvaged what seemed to be an aircraft flight manual in an area between Samal Island and Davao City at around noon yesterday, Cadungog said.
The recovered items were brought to the Barangay Hall of Barangay 76-A Bukana, Talomo District, Davao City, where an emergency meeting of concerned agencies was held yesterday.
Col. Isagani Silva, commander of the TOG 11, said that the plane arrived in Davao at 6:37 p.m. Monday, and took off at 8:51 p.m. the same night, bound for Iloilo.
Chief Supt. Andres Caro II, regional director of the Police Regional Office 11 (PRO 11) and chairman of the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council (RDCC), immediately activated the Task Force Rescue, headed by Capt. Rosauro Gonzales of the Naval Forces of the EastMincom for search and rescue operations. The team is composed of the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippnes, Philippine Coast Guard, and other concerned agencies.
Cadungog said the said four-engine turbo-prop aircraft was recently serviced by mechanics and had a new engine and auxiliary power unit installed last August 15.
"We’re still verifying as to what really transpired because this is something very unusual… the aircraft and the pilots were all OK before take off and everything was normal until that time," he said.
The weather was reported clear at the time of the crash.
The plane took off from the Davao airport at around 8:50 p.m. Monday for Iloilo City to pick up personnel of the Presidential Security Group and fly them to Manila. The aircraft served as a troop, medical evacuation, and cargo transport aircraft.
Cadungog said the plane was set to arrive in Iloilo about 10 p.m. Monday, but around 10 minutes after take off, authorities lost contact and later declared the aircraft missing.
"We initiated search operations as early as around 10 last night, " Cadungog said. "The last communication from the pilots was one minute after takeoff when they were given instructions to turn left for Iloilo City."
Cadungog sent out search planes, including two Australia-made Nomads, three UH-1H "Huey" helicopters, an S-76, and a Beechcraft 200 to look for the missing plane. A US long-range patrol aircraft also joined the air and sea search.
Rescue teams on board Navy and Coast Guard vessels were also dispatched to the Gulf of Davao by the Navy.
"Navy chief Rear Admiral Ferdinand S. Golez immediately dispatched PN vessels, including DF340, EW175, and UV 471, to the area at around 1 a.m., making the first group of seacrafts to be sent to the area," said Navy public information chief Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo.
Shortly thereafter, Philippine Coast Guard commandant Vice Admiral Wilfredo D. Tamayo, informed of the incident by PCG Mindanao district commander Commodore Lino Dabi, immediately sent PCG SARV-3501 (BRP Ilocos Norte) and one PCG Islander skippered by LtSG Dexter Torres and LtSG Raymund Santos, respectively.
According to Arevalo and Cdr. William Isaga, PCG Civil Relations Service (CRS) chief, the control tower of the Davao International Airport flashed an alarm to air and transportation agencies that communication with the ill-fated C-130 was cut off or was lost at around 9 p.m.
Davao police investigator Joel Parojinog said residents from a coastal village reported to police they recovered from shore two combat boots, human body parts, and some documents, including a C-130 manual.
He said they reported seeing a plane around 9 p.m. Monday "going down into the sea with flames on one of the wings," followed by an underwater explosion.
Cadungog said the Air Force requested assistance from the US and a long-range aircraft was expected to join eight Philippine planes and helicopters in the search.
Earlier Monday, the plane transported combat troops from Fort Magsaysay, an Army base in Nueva Ecija, to Davao, a major southern airport on the edge of the coast, Cadungog said. A second C-130 operated by the Air Force was grounded as a safety precaution.
The central and western parts of Mindanao island have been the site of intense fighting between troops and Muslim rebels. The military has been pursuing three commanders of the MILF and their men who were blamed for killing dozens of civilians and pillaging communities in three southern provinces last week.
AFP Vice Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Cardozo M. Luna, in charge of ongoing offensive operations against rogue commanders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Mindanao, said air assets of the PAF are very vital in their campaign.
Cadungog did not speculate what might have caused the plane to crash, but said sabotage is "always a possibility," especially because the Air Force was leading the operations against the rebels.
Air Force helicopters and planes have been hitting rebel hide-outs "so if you read from that, you will know that if there is one force that the enemy would want to strike, it would be the Air Force," Cadungog said.
But he said the rebels did not have weapons that could shoot down a plane flying at more than 3,000 feet (900 meters). At the time the plane lost contact, it was estimated to be flying at about 5,000 feet (1,500 meters) and climbing, he said.
The aircraft was acquired by the Philippine government in 1983, but was built in 1971. Cadungog said it is not the age of the airplane that counts in airworthiness, but the excellent maintenance, preparedness, and experience of pilots.
Cadungog said the Davao Gulf incident was the first of its kind to happen