
An undated photo of one of two aging Philippine Air Force cargo aircraft prepares to land in the southern island of Sulu. The Philippine Air Force on says one one of its C130 cargo plane crashed at sea near the Davao Gulf off Mindanao after it took off from the Davao International Airport before midnight Monday. On Tuesday, coastal villagers recovered debris from the plane, including a pair of military boots, an aircraft manual and some body parts. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)
DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / August 26, 2008) - A Philippine Air Force C130 transport plane crashed at sea shortly after take off in Davao City in Mindanao.
Aircraft debris had been recovered on Tuesday near the Davao Gulf where the military launched a massive search for the ageing aircraft. Among the recovered debris was a pair of combat boots, aircraft manuals and pieces of metals believed from the skin of the C130 plane. It was not immediately known if there was any survivor.
The aircraft, built in 1971, had lost contact after taking off from Davao International Airport shortly before midnight Monday.
Philippine Air Force chief Lt. Gen. Pedrito Cadungog said: “We are still verifying really as to what transpired because this is something very unusual. The aircraft and the pilots were all okay before take off and everything was normal until that time.”
The aircraft, piloted by Captain Adrian de Dios and Major Manuel Sambrano, was carrying seven crewmen and on their way to Iloilo province in central Philippines to pick up members of the Presidential Security Group after Monday's visit by President Gloria Arroyo.
Television reports identified the crew as Sergeants Constantino Lobregat, John Arriola, Gerry Delioso, Felix Pedro Patriarga, Petronilo Fernandez, Patricio Claur Jr, and Sergeant Aldrin Ilustrisimo.
“We still do not what really happened really, but the last contact we had on the C130 was at the Butuan air base,” Lt. Col. Roland Bautista, a spokesman for the 10th Infantry Division in Davao City, told the Mindanao Examiner.
The cause of the crash was unknown. “It could be mechanical trouble, we still don’t know,” Bautista said.
The Philippine Air Force has only two ageing C130 aircrafts in their fleet of mostly old OV-10 fighter planes and UH-1H helicopters. (With reports from Romy Bwaga)
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