Another AFP plane crashes

ZAMBOANGA CITY — An Air Force N-22 Nomad light transport plane carrying 13 passengers, including the pilot, plunged into the shore of a coastal village west of here shortly before 2 p.m. yesterday.

All 13 people on board — three officers, eight enlisted personnel of the 3rd Tactical Air Wing (TOW) and two civilians — have been rescued, the military said.

The Nomad propeller craft was returning to the Edwin Andrews Air Force base in Zamboanga after delivering salaries of PAF soldiers in Cagayan de Tawi-Tawi, Sibutu and Sanga-Sanga towns and picking up a military patient when its engine failed.

But the pilots, Capt. Myroade de Leon and 1Lt. Baby Vladimir Ilagan, were able to safely ditch the aircraft at the Karagasan Bay near Zamboanga.

The plane landed in a seaweed plantation, some 200 meters off shore of Ebenezer Bible College and a kilometer away from the Naval Forces South (NFS) pier.

"Everybody is okay now. They are being attended to by doctors in the Southcom Hospital. Nobody was killed," Armed Forces Southern Command (Southcom) deputy chief Brig. Gen. Rodolfo Diaz said.

The other passengers who survived the crash are 1Lt. Josephine Bartido, M/Sgt. Dominador Villamor, T/Sgt. Pedro Ticot, T/Sgt. Wilson Tacloban, Sgt. Elopoldo Dahilig, Sgt. Raul Bautista, Sgt. Jenny Gentilisyo, A2C Roly Alto, and A2C George Delarmino — all members of the 3rd TOW.

The two civilians were Honorato Broce and Sorayma Atal.

Efforts are now underway to recover the aircraft with the help of the Philippine Navy.

Air Force chief Lt. Gen. Nestor Santillan immediately dispatched an investigation team from the Air Force’s Safety Office to further determine the cause of the accident.

Based on initial reports, at about 20 nautical miles from its station at EAAB, the pilots contacted Zamboanga airport tower controller to report that they developed trouble in the left engine. At approximately 13 nautical miles from the station, the tower noticed the plane rapidly descending and eventually ditched.

A witness, Hara Ruwar, said she saw black smoke trailing from the tail of the plane and heard a small explosion before it plunged into the water.

"It exploded before it fell into the sea," she added.

The crash was the second in five days involving a Philippine military plane. On Dec. 12, an Italian-made SF-260 trainer aircraft crashed into a factory building in Batangas killing two pilots and a factory worker on the ground and injuring 10 others.

This is also the second time in recent years that a Nomad plane, a multi-role aircraft used for liaison and maritime patrol, crashed into the sea. In July 2000, a similar aircraft plunged into the Sulu Sea off Cagayancillo Island near Palawan killing Armed Forces Western Command chief Maj. Gen. Santiago Madrid and Palawan Gov. Salvador Socrates.

Air Force spokesman Maj. Restituto Padilla said that there are 14 Nomads in the Air Force fleet. - With Paolo Romero, Rey Arquiza