PAF general, 3 others killed in crash

A light plane crashed in a coconut grove near a residential area in Tanauan City in Batangas shortly after takeoff yesterday, killing four people and seriously injuring two others on board.

The charred bodies of the pilot and three passengers were recovered in a coconut field in Santor village where the Cessna 207 plowed into several houses, deputy city police head Chief Inspector Noel Sandoval said.

The two survivors suffered third-degree burns and bruises, Sandoval said. No resident of the village was hurt.

Sandoval said the fatalities, who were supposed to go skydiving, were Edgar Calvo, a retired general of the Philippine Air Force (PAF); Jose Perez, a businessman, and Jimmy del Rosario, a commercial photographer. The plane was owned by Chemtrad Corp.

Shaken by the incident, Chemtrad Corp. owner Manny Barada managed to identify the plane’s pilot only as Captain Estuesta.

Barada’s son Ryan survived the crash along with another passenger identified as Francis Calvo, son of the retired general. The two were flown by an Air Force rescue team to a Manila hospital for treatment.

Sandoval said the bodies were recovered by a PAF rescue team and would be airlifted to Manila.

Investigation showed the single-engine airplane with wing No. C-3126 experienced engine trouble a few minutes after it took off from the privately owned Baradas airstrip at around 11 a.m. It was a few hundred feet in the air when it began to plummet.

According to records at the Air Transportation Office, the Cessna plane left the Manila Domestic Airport at around 8:25 a.m. to pick up the passengers for a skydiving exercise in Tanauan.

Jess Matalog, a resident, said he witnessed thick smoke billowing from the Plane’s engine before it hit a high tension wire and a couple of coconut trees.

"Pupugak-pugak ang tunog ng eroplano nung makita ko bago sumabit sa kuryente at sa mga puno ng niyog (The plane’s engine sounded unsteady before I saw it got entangled in a high tension wire and then the coconut trees)," he said.

Matalog said the two survivors managed to jump out of the plane before it blew up into flames. He and other residents helped both to safety.

"I saw a person gesturing and I rushed to him and immediately moved him away from the fire," Matalog said.

The elder Baradas told The STAR that the group was set to go skydiving. He refused to speculate on the possible cause of the crash.

The Baradas airstrip is often used by private planes owned by businessmen or chartered by tourists.

Air Force officials said a probe was underway to determine the cause of the crash.

Last March 5, a pilot of Chemtrad Corp. identified as Capt. Raymond Castillo was reported missing after its single-engine Cessna plane plunged into the waters of Jomalig in Quezon province as it was transporting fish cargo from Cuyo island in Palawan. - With Cecille Suerte Felipe, Rudy Santos, AFP