LEGAZPI CITY, Albay – The remains of a Cessna plane crash victim arrived at the command center in Barangay Anoling in Camalig, Albay on Wednesday night, March 1.
Camalig Mayor Caloy Baldo, incident commander for the retrieval operation, said that responders managed to drop off the first of four bodies after almost five hours of trekking down the volcano earlier in the day.
Baldo said that they expect the arrival of two more bodies within the day with the last body in the early morning.
“Siguro every two hours may dumating. Pero ‘yung isa baka bukas na kasi inabutan ng ng dilim. Nilalamig na ‘yung mga tao natin doon sa taas. Early morning babalikan nila ‘yun para maibaba na (Maybe a body will arrive once every two hours. The last one might be brought down tomorrow due to darkness. Our responders up there are freezing. They will retrieve the body and bring it down in the morning),” Baldo said.
The bodies will be turned over to the Scene-of-the-Crime Operatives (SOCO) and the police for processing and investigation.
“After po nito, maya-maya ‘yung first body na-turnover na po sa SOCO, then ‘yung pulis natin mag-iimbestiga na then itu-turn-over na ito sa family (The first body that arrived will be turned over to the SOCO. Police will investigate and the body will be turned over to the family),” Baldo said.
Baldo lauded the effort of every individual who volunteered in the retrieval operation.
He thanked the responding teams composed of mountaineers, local guides, the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), Philippine National Police (PNP), Philippine Army, Naval Special Operations Group (NAVSOG), Energy Development Corp. (EDC), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Philippine Air Force (PAF), Philippine Navy, and other volunteers for their efforts.
"Marami pong tumulong, maraming nagdasal. Kaya, effort po ito ng lahat (Many helped and prayed. This was a team effort),” he said.
Baldo announced that the Sangguniang Bayan (SB) of Camalig has approved a resolution commending and recognizing all efforts rendered by all individuals and groups involved, especially the teams that trekked and endured the challenges at the volcano.