KORONADAL CITY, Philippines — A Tausug woman said Monday she saw only one set of the side wheels of the C-130 military plane protruding while descending on the airport before it crashed Sunday in Sulu province.
Alicia Jamdan, residing in Barangay Bangcal in Patikul, near the spot where the Hercules C-130 plane full of soldiers fell and burst into flames, told Catholic Station dxOM via a phone-patched interview she is certain the large Hercules C-130 aircraft crashed due to a mechanical problem.
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“We could see from our village planes landing and taking off from the nearby Jolo airport. It was my first time to see a plane landing with an incomplete set of wheels coming out while going down on the runway,” Jandan told Catholic Station dxOM on Monday morning.
The accident caused the deaths of at least 50 soldiers, including the plane’s eight-member crew led by pilots Major Emmanuel Makalintal, Major Michael Vincent Benolerao and 1Lt. Karl Joseph Hintay.
Their subordinates, Air Force Sergeants Donald Badoy, Jan Neil Macapaz, Michael Bulalaque, Jack Navarro and Airman 1st Class Fortunato Regidor and a military nurse, 1Lt Sheena Alexandrae Tato, also died in the crash.
Bangsamoro Local Government Minister Naguib Sinarimbo said Monday they were saddened with the incident.
“The government of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao share with the grief of the families of the fatalities in the plane crash,” Sinarimbo, BARMM regional spokesperson, said.
North Cotabato Vice Gov. Emmylou Taliño Mendoza and South Cotabato Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo, Jr. have separately condoled with the families of the plane crash victims via media outfits in central Mindanao.
“We are praying for the families of the departed, praying for them to overcome their pain. We also pray for the injured who are now in hospitals. We are wishing for their immediate recovery,” Mendoza said.
Sinarimbo said the BARMM health ministry is extending assistance to the injured soldiers confined in hospitals in Sulu, a component province of BARMM.