Military chopper crashes

ROSALES, Pangasinan — An Air Force pilot and six members of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) were injured after a military helicopter carrying them crashed as it was maneuvering to land on an airstrip here.

The helicopter was a total wreck, police said.

The soldiers were headed to the Our Lady of Rosales grotto here as the advance party of President Arroyo who visited the Catholic shrine yesterday afternoon.

In Manila, PSG commander Brig. Gen. Delfin Bangit said another helicopter had already landed when the second helicopter crashed.

"The helicopter was taxiing to park at the end of the airstrip when it suddenly went into an uncontrollable spin towards the right," the Air Force public information office said in a statement yesterday.

"The pilot was forced to execute the necessary emergency procedure, and the aircraft finally ended upside down."

Superintendent Edgar Basbas, Pangasinan police deputy director for operations, said in a telephone interview the helicopter crashed near the Carmen airstrip around 3:15 p.m.

A check at the provincial police office showed that pilot Iñigo Hoseta and Sgt. Roman Albonag, who were taken to the Polymedic Hospital in Villasis town, were airlifted yesterday to Villamor Air Base in Pasay City.

Three of the injured soldiers, who have remained at the Del Carmen Hospital in this town, were identified only as Sergeants Moralde, De la Peña and Pascua.

The other two, who are still unidentified, are at the Trauma Center in Urdaneta City. — Eva Visperas, Paolo Romero, Jaime Laude, Rainier Allan Ronda