Authorities have located the Cessna training aircraft as well as the remains of its two passengers at a crash site in Apayao on Wednesday, August 2, a day after it went missing while en route to Tuguegarao Airport in Cagayan.
(Courtesy of Cagayan provincial information office)
The crash site was located at the boundary of Barangay Salvacion in Luna town and Barangay San Mariano in Pudtol town both in Apayao, according to the provincial information office (PIO) of Cagayan.
“Natagpuan rin ang dalawang sakay nito ngunit kapwa wala nang buhay (Also found were its two passengers who were already dead),” the Cagayan PIO said in a statement.
The fatalities were identified by authorities as Capt. Edzel John Lumbao Tabuzo, pilot, and Indian student pilot Anshum Rajkumar Konde.
According to Cagayan PIO, the information was verified by Apayao Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officer Jeoffrey Borromeo.
A separate confirmation was made by National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) Deputy Spokesperson Diego Agustin Mariano.
"Yes, the crash site has been found. We are now conducting retrieval operations," he said.
Earlier on the same day, search and rescue operations were resumed to locate the Cessna 152 training aircraft with registration number RP-C8958 after it went missing on Tuesday, August 1.
Philippine Army (PA) personnel under the jurisdiction of the 5th Infantry Division (5ID) were deployed on the ground with SAR units from the Office of Civil Defense in Cagayan Valley (OCD Region 2), Philippine Air Force (PAF), and Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) for a coordinated search, said Mariano and Army spokesperson Col. Xerxes Trinidad.
A PCG helicopter also departed from Tuguegarao Airport at 5:52 a.m. Tuesday for an aerial search but it returned shortly due to cloudy skies.
Prior to this, a missionary chopper flight also tried to conduct aerial search on Monday but it also returned due to bad weather.
The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) said the training aircraft failed to land at Tuguegarao Airport after taking off from Laoag International Airport in Ilocos Norte.
The aircraft is operated by Echo Air, an aviation academy based in Tuguegarao City. It was last located at 32 nautical miles northwest of Alcala, Cagayan while cruising at an altitude of 7,500 feet.
The crashed aircraft was an American two-seater, fixed-tricycle-gear general aviation airplane that is primarily used for flight training and personal concerns.
Investigation is underway to determine the cause of the crash.