A Philippine Air Force (PAF) attack helicopter crashed during a maintenance flight in Getafe, Bohol on Tuesday morning, April 27.
PAF spokesman Lt. Col. Maynard Mariano said a McDonnel Douglas MG-520 "Defender" combat chopper went down on the shorelines of Gestafe town around 9:30 a.m. He said validation is still being done on the number of casualties.
"We can confirm that we have a downed aircraft in the vicinity of Bohol," Mariano said.
The cause of the crash was already being investigated by the authorities as of this writing.
However, Mariano said the chopper took off from a PAF military base in Mactan Island and was conducting a periodic test flight when it crashed into the shore.
"The aircraft is on a maintenance flight and those are the areas na pinaggagawaan nila ng maintenance flight (where they do maintenance flight)," he said.
Further, Mariano said he could not yet confirm reports of casualties on social media as probers were still on-site to retrieve the aircraft.
"It is still under investigation. My office is trying to confirm all of these things," he said.