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Search team for C-130 recovers body off Davao


(Updated 1:36 p.m.) MANILA, Philippines - Rescuers on Tuesday recovered a body believed to be that of a crew member of the missing Philippine Air Force C-130 aircraft off Davao City, bolstering fears that the plane which was reported missing since Monday night may have crashed into sea. Eastern Mindanao Command spokesman Maj. Armand Rico, citing initial military reports, confirmed the retrieval of a body, even as he said that operations continue in the search for crew members of the missing aircraft. Authorities have earlier identified the aircraft’s pilot as Major Manuel Sambrano, and his co-pilot as Captain Adrian de Dios, a graduate of the Philippine Military Academy Class 1999. The crew members include: • Flight Technical Sergeant Constantino Lobregat, • Staff Sergeant John Arriola, • Staff Sergeant Gerry Delioso, • Staff Sergeant Felix Pedro Patriarga, • Staff Sergeant Petronilo Fernandez, • Staff Sergeant Patricio Claur Jr, and • Staff Sergeant Aldrin Ilustrisimo. Robert Olan-Olan, chairman of Brgy. Bucana in Davao City, said residents of the barangay and the nearby village of Agdao found plane tires and body parts off Davao City around noon Tuesday. "Hindi buong body, parts of the body (These are not intact bodies but body parts)," Olan-Olan said in an interview on dzBB radio. A separate report by GMA-7 Davao television reporter Tek Ocampo said other items retrieved by local residents on the shorelines of Brgy. Lapu-Lapu, 5 to 7 kilometers away from the airport included combat boots and documents that appeared to be part of an aircraft manual. He added that identification cards and drivers licenses believed to be those of crew members of the missing cargo plane were also retrieved. PAF Davao, however, declined to confirm if the debris collected were from the C-130 aircraft, even as forensic experts have arrived in the area to examine the items. Olan-Olan had cited reports from local fishermen saying "something big" fell into the water but could not confirm whether it was an airplane. "Di na-recognize ng tao dahil umuulan (They could not recognize it because it was raining)," he said. Earlier in the day, Air Force chief Lt. Gen. Pedrito Cadungog said the C-130 aircraft left Davao International Airport about 8:50 p.m. Monday to pick up personnel from the Presidential Security Group (PSG) in Ilolilo City and bring them back to Manila. Cadungog said the plane was expected to arrive in Iloilo about 10 p.m. Monday, but around 10 minutes after take off, authorities lost contact with the aircraft and later declared the aircraft missing. Officials earlier said that the plane likely crashed, and that search and rescue efforts are currently focused within a 20-mile radius of Davao City. "We lost contact with the plane 10 minutes after take off. The aircraft most probably crashed ... we are concentrating our search within a 20-mile radius in Davao City. Several aircraft are also involved in the search," Cadungog said. Cadungog said that authorities are still baffled by the aircraft's disappearance because the C-130 is manned by seasoned pilots and because the plane was recently installed with a new engine and an auxiliary power unit last August 15. The Air Force chief said the Philippine Navy and the Philippine Coast Guard are helping out in the search, while the United States also has extended its assistance in the operations. Cadungog said a US long-range patrol aircraft has joined other air and sea assets deployed by the local military and Coast Guard to search for the missing C-130 aircraft. - GMANews.TV
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