CAMALIG, Albay – Mayor Caloy Baldo announced in his Facebook account on Wednesday night, Feb. 22, that operations operations for the four people on board the Cessna plane that crashed in Albay will now shift from rescue to retrieval. "FYI: Efforts focused on Cessna 340A shall now shift from RESCUE to RETRIEVAL operations," Baldo said in his Facebook post. On Wednesday morning, Feb. 21, Baldo said that rescuers from different agencies is least 900 meters away from the crash site near the crater of Mayon Volcano and there is no timeline yet for the possible completion of the mission. He only said that as of 7 a.m. on Wednesday, the mission is at least at 60 percent complete. Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office (APSEMO) chief Dr. Cedric Daep hinted that once they have declared retrieval operations, this means responders have already reached the crash site. "Ito na lang ang manmanan ninyo, ngayon nasa search and rescue po kami. Pero once na nag-declare kami ng ‘phase out of rescue’ to ‘phase in to recovery,’ ito ‘yung critical period, siguro ang ipapalabas namin na sunod ay ‘yung result na lang. Pag nagsabi na kaming phase out search and rescue at recovery stage, meaning nasa site na yung mga tao at saka hawak nila ‘yung mga victims (Watch out for this, now that we are on search and rescue. But once we declare ‘phase out of rescue’ to ‘phase in recovery,’ this is the critical period, we will release the next result. When we say phase out search and rescue and recovery stage, it means that rescuers are on site and they have the victims)," Daep said. Unofficial information gathered by the Manila Bulletin from sources in the rescue team said the victims have already retrieved from the crash site and being brought now down the slope of Mayon Volcano. Meanwhile, in a statement, the Energy Development Corp. (EDC) confirmed the death of passengers onboard the plane. "We mourn the confirmed passing of our dear colleagues, Capt. Rufino James Crisostomo Jr., Joel G. Martin, Simon Chipperfield, and Karthi Santhanam, who were on board the Aircraft RP-C-2080 that was reported missing early Saturday morning shortly after taking off from the Bicol International Airport,” a statement from Richard B. Tantoco, President and Chief Operating Officer of EDC.
‘’Our heartfelt sympathies go to their families and friends during this difficult time. ‘’It is with the deepest gratitude that we thank the tireless efforts of all the rescuers from branches of government, civilian volunteers, and EDC Emergency Response Teams from across the country. ‘’The local government has declared that the rescue efforts have now been reclassified as retrieval efforts."