More PAF bomber debris recovered

MANILA, Philippines - Navy and Coast Guard search teams recovered yesterday additional pieces of debris in Honda Bay where an Air Force OV-10 Bronco bomber is believed to have crashed Sunday night.

The recovery of the debris has caused apprehension that the plane could have disintegrated upon impact off the coast of Barangay Bancao-Bancao at about 7:30 p.m.

The plane’s cargo bay door, nose wheel, inflatable life raft, fuel tank, green cushion chair, have been recovered.

1Lt. Cheryl Tindog, Armed Forces Western Command (Wescom) spokesperson, said the debris have been turned to the Air Force for examination and identification.

Relatedly, Wescom commander, Lt. Gen. Rustico Guerrero activated yesterday Joint Task Force Bronco under Brig. Gen. Conrado Parra Jr. to oversee the search, rescue and retrieval operations for the bomber and missing pilots Maj. Jonathan Ybanez and 1Lt. Abner Trust Nacion.

They are not giving up hope that Ybanez and Nacion were able to eject and survived, he added.

Wescom has deployed several teams to search the coastlines and islets in Honda Bay, where Ybanez and Nacion could have taken refuge.

Using a portable sonar, Coast Guard divers began sweeping yesterday the waters of Palawan where the bomber is believed to have crashed.

Commodore Enrico Efren Evangelista, PCG Palawan district commander, said they started using the sonar yesterday morning.

As of press time yesterday, the PCG has not yet found the location of the bomber or the two pilots.

A yacht is towing the sonar with a team of seven Coast Guard divers following on board a rubber boat.

Evangelista said their priority is to locate the two missing pilots and the aircraft.

“Our sonar operations are from sunrise to sunset and our sweep will cover approximately six square kilometers around the vicinity of the approach of the runway of Puerto Princesa Airport,” he said.

Evangelista said Coast Guard divers might not be able to reach the plane’s location even if they are able to locate the exact spot as they could only dive up to a certain depth.

“There are different depths,” he said. “The SOG has been diving since Monday, but there are certain areas that are beyond 100 meters and 200 meters and these are already beyond their diving capability. It would already be difficult for our divers. We would have to use a different diving technique.”

Considering their lack of equipment and lack of training, the PCG divers could only safely dive up to 40 meters or 50 meters. – With Evelyn Macairan