Police: 3 hurt in Isabela plane accident

(Updated 4:22 p.m.) CAUAYAN CITY — Three people miraculously escaped death Wednesday after a six-seater light plane crashed while landing at the Maconacon airport in Barangay Malasin in coastal Maconacon town in Isabela province. Senior Superintendent Jimmy Rivera Sr., Isabela police director, identified the three occupants of the trainer aircraft Cyclone plane with body no. C1336 as Capt. Reynald Taquiqui, a 56-year-old pilot from Santa Maria,Isabela; Capt. Ahmed Farid Hotak, a 28-year-old Iranian national; and Joseph Vergara, a 20-year-old mechanic from Gonzaga, Cagayan. The three were brought to the Maconacon Rural Health Unit for treatment of their bruises and contusions. Investigators said the plane was landing at the airport's runway when its front wheel got busted, causing the pilot to lose control. The plane turned upside down. The plane took off at the Cauayan Domestic Airport at about 9:36 a.m. for a cross-town flight from Cauayan City to Maconacon, Isabela. "Our initial investigation showed the plane was piloted by a foreign student pilot na tinuturuan mag-cross-country flight sa Sierra Madre," Rivera said in an interview on dzBB radio. "Magta-taxi na nang bumalentong ito (It was about to taxi at the Maconacon airport when it crashed and even turned upside down)," he added. — with Joel Nueva/LBG/KBK, GMA News