Divers return to Masbate today to retrieve plane engine

MANILA, Philippines - Technical divers will return to Masbate today to assist the Philippine Coast Guard in retrieving the right engine of the ill-fated Piper Seneca plane that carried Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo and two pilots.

Coast Guard commandant Vice Admiral Edmund Tan said yesterday that he informed Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas II that there would be technical divers returning to Masbate today.

Tan said technical divers with their equipment would fly from Manila to Masbate around noontime.

Coast Guard-Special Operations Group operations chief Lieutenant Christopher Dulnuan added the plane’s right engine was located in the deeper part of the sea off Masbate and would require the assistance of technical divers.

After retrieving the bodies Robredo, pilot Jessup Bahinting and Nepalese co-pilot Kshitz Chand, Coast Guard divers stayed to recover parts of the doomed Piper Seneca.

Tan added they have provided the technical divers a copy of the video taken underwater where the right engine was spotted. The right wing was about seven meters from the tail of the main fuselage.

“We already provided them the coordinates (both the latitude and longitude) of the site where the fuselage was retrieved in the seabed,” he added.

Tan also informed Roxas that even the fishing boat with the sonar, which was used during the retrieval operation, has returned to Masbate and is currently anchored near the site where the fuselage was retrieved.

Once everything is in place, Tan said the diving operations would begin Tuesday morning.

The Coast Guard’s BRP EDSA 2 also stayed at the crash site to assist in the dive since it is equipped with a decompression chamber that could aid divers who might suffer from decompression sickness.

A Coast Guard helicopter was also directed to fly back to Masbate today to provide support in the retrieval operations.