Lacson: 'Ill-fated chopper missed us by a few seconds'

The ill-fated Air Force helicopter that crashed late Saturday afternoon in Pajo village, Lapu-Lapu City in Cebu narrowly missed Genuine Opposition senatorial candidate Panfilo Lacson who was leaving the area after meeting with local leaders, according to a GMA News exclusive report. Lacson said the Huey chopper crashed just a few meters behind the van he was riding but no one among his staff was injured. "I just realized that we can go anytime whether we like it or not and when we least expect it," Lacson told GMANews.TV in a text message. "The chopper missed us by a few seconds." Lacson said that while he is thankful to God that they were spared from certain death, he felt "sorry for the families of those who were right behind our van when the accident happened." "I was with [Zosimo] Paredes, a Kapatiran senatorial candidate and a Philippine Military Academy classmate," Lacson said. He said he and Paredes visited some of the victims' families and sent prayers to them. He said he will hear Mass Sunday morning. Eight people were killed and four others injured when the Vietnam War-era UH-1H Huey crashed on a busy street, pinning two tricycles. Radio DZBB reported that Huey helicopter slammed onto the motorcycle taxis around 5:55 p.m. The helicopter was about to land after a training flight when it crashed about two kilometers from Mactan Air Base, Lt. Col. Epifanio Panzo, Air Force spokesman, said. Authorities have launched an investigation into the tragedy. Panzo confirmed the death of one crew member; three others on the helicopter suffered minor injuries, hospital staff said. DZBB radio reported that helicopter's rotors "chopped up" the taxi and dismembered its passengers. The crash also caused a city-wide blackout after the helicopter’s tail touched and destroyed the poles and primary and secondary lines of Mactan Electric Company. The military's more than 30 Hueys are the workhorses of the Philippine air force. In one of the worst helicopter crashes in recent years, nine people aboard a Huey — including the government's chief volcanologist — died in April 2005 when it slammed into a steep ravine in the northern Philippines due to bad weather and the pilot's unfamiliarity with the terrain. - GMANews.TV