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Thursday, August 28, 2008
Lack of equipment limits search for C-130
By Carlo P. Mallo
DAVAO CITY -- The absence of a sophisticated equipment to plumb the depths of Davao Gulf is hindering the retrieval, if not sighting, of the missing C-130 Hercules Lockheed plane that crashed into the sea.
The C-130 plane of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) went missing shortly after taking off from the Davao International Airport Monday night. It was supposed to arrive in Iloilo City.
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As of Wednesday afternoon, the exact location of the crash site remains to be unknown.
Task Force C-130 (TF C-130) is created to oversee the search and retrieval operations of the missing plane.
"We already have a suspected crash site," said Captain Rosauro Arnel Gonzales, head of TF C-130.
However, a suspected crash site cannot be confirmed due to the absence of a high-powered sonar, like those in state-of-the-art science ships.
TF C-130 is only using "fish finder" sonar -- a GPS map 298 -- equipment owned by Carlos Munda, a private speedboat owner in Davao City who is a fishing enthusiast.
At the suspected crash site, around three nautical miles southwest of Punta del Sol in Barangay Catagman, Peñaplata district of the Island Garden City of Samal and 1.5 nautical miles southeast of Barangay 76-A Bucana in Davao City, the fish finder sonar only came up with blotches of red to indicate a solid object somewhere at 800 feet below, but no visual image of an airplane.
"The fish finder could detect up to 1,000 feet, and the aircraft is estimated to be about 800 feet under," Gonzales said Wednesday.
He said the suspected crash site has shown a solid object, which is cylindrical in shape, which may be the actual body of the aircraft.
But it could also be any solid object down there, including a solid rock base, added Gonzales.
Search and retrieval operations for the crashed aircraft have been ongoing for the past days, but even the exact location of the aircraft has not been determined yet due to the absence of proper equipment.
Gonzales said there has been no timeframe set for the task force to wrap up its search and retrieval operations.
"Rest assured, we are doing our maximum efforts to locate and retrieve the plane," he said.
Oil slick
It was learned that C-130 had 14,820 liters of aviation fuel as it had just refueled before it took off for Iloilo.
Thus, it is expected that the oil will leak out soon and might further indicate where the crashed aircraft is. But Gonzales assured that the aviation fuel will not do much harm to the marine environment.
"It is one of the purest forms of petroleum, it will simply evaporate and will not harm the environment," Gonzalez said.
As of Wednesday, however, there was no apparent oil slick in the area, which was scoured by volunteers, the navy, coast guard, and air force.
The various groups comprising TF C-130 -- the Task Group (TG) Navy, TG Air Force, TG Coast Guard, and TG Civilian volunteers -- gathered at the coast guard station in Sta. Ana early Wednesday morning to continue the search.
TG Civilian volunteers are made up of Davao City's Rescue 911, the Aquamarine Protection and Preservation Alliance, and the local government units (LGUs) of Davao City and the Island Garden City of Samal.
The group intends to set out anew Thursday to check out the site once more for more sonar readings, and scour the beaches for any debris brought in by the surf.
As of Wednesday, only a seat cushion of a plane, pieces of a bag, and a patch marked "Thai Hercules RATF" (RATF believed to be Royal Thai Air Force) were recovered from the shores of Bucana.
Monday's debris were considerably more, which included the chunks of flesh and innards of at least two men, a wheel assembly of the plane and one tire, a C-130 manual, identification cards and wallets, combat boots, and the interior upholstery of a C-130 plane.
All these were recovered from the shores of Bucana and Agdao. However, nothing has been found and turned over to the TF C-130 from Agdao as of Wednesday afternoon.
Gonzales said that with the items recovered so far, it can be deduced that the plane did not blow up into pieces since the parts of the plane that have so far shown up were those that could have been separated upon impact.
"It's possible that the main body of the plane is intact," he said, although he made it clear that this is just a theory since there is no visual sighting of the plane's body. (Sun.Star Davao/With SAE)
Related stories:
C-130 crash timeline
‘No signs of survivors’
C-130 wreck found deep under water
Air Force chief: Crashed C-130 was not sabotaged
C-130's crash will impede relief operations
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Dumaguete. (August 28, 2008 issue)
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