Monday, November 26, 2007
RP reconnaissance jet on typhoon rescue mission disappears (5:10 p.m.)
MANILA -- A Philippine air force reconnaissance jet with two pilots failed to return Monday from a rescue mission in the South China Sea during raging tropical storms, officials said.
The missing jet was one of two S211 aircraft sent to the Philippine-held Kalayaan islands group in the Spratlys to search for 26 Filipino crewmen whose fishing vessel capsized Thursday in stormy weather.
One jet returned to western Palawan province, but the other did not, said air force spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Epifanio Panzo.
"We don't know what happened. We don't know if it crashed. We lost contact ... it's missing," he said.
Panzo said the two jets took off at 8:45 a.m. with enough fuel for four hours of flight. He said contact with the missing jet was lost less than two hours after takeoff. (AP) |
