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Wednesday, September 03, 2008
US Navy ship sweeps Davao Gulf
DAVAO CITY -- Search and retrieval operations of the missing C-130 plane were suspended as US Navy's survey ship scoured the far side of Davao Gulf and Davao City's shoreline soon after it arrived Monday morning.
USNS John MacDonnel, the oceanographic survey ship sent by the US Navy to help search for the fuselage of the missing Philippine Air Force (PAF) C-130 Hercules plane, was spotted scouring the portion closer to Davao City's shoreline on Tuesday.
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The Philippine Navy's search and retrieval operation has taken the back seat, as it cannot proceed without confirmation of the fuselage location by the US Navy ship. The Philippine Navy secured the Davao Gulf while the survey ship scanned the seabed to search for the 97 feet-long aircraft.
Philippine Navy Captain Rosauro Arnel Gonzales said there were no reports yet on whether the US vessel had spotted the wreckage.
It has been more than a week since the ill-fated plane lost contact with the aviation tower of the Davao International Airport a few minutes after it took off.
No sizable part of the plane or of a human body has been recovered. Only bits and parcel of human flesh and plane parts, including parts of human lungs, small intestines, scalp with hair, human skin with soft tissues, metal interior of a C-130, and some personal belongings that may have been from the nine Air Force personnel and two Army soldiers who were on board the aircraft, were found.
The 37-year-old US-made aircraft lost contact with air traffic controllers shortly after taking off from Davao airport at 8:51 p.m. Monday. The military has ruled out its own earlier suggestion that the plane could have been shot down by Moro insurgents.
The C-130 was manned by Major Manuel Zambrano with Captain Adrian de Dios as co-pilot. The plane has seven other crew members identified as T/Sgt. Lobregas Constantino, S/Sgt. John Ariola, S/Sgt. Gery Dionisio, S/Sgt. Felix Patriaca, S/Sgt. Pedronelo Fernandez, S/Sgt. Patricio Romeo Gaor, S/Sgt. Aldrin Illustrisimo, and two other Philippine Army personnel who arrived to escort military equipment brought in by the plane and thus were not in the Davao manifest. They are identified as Corporal Sabangan of the Army's First Scout Ranger Regiment and Master Sergeant Nebres of Army's 3rd Infantry Division (ID).
The plane left Davao City past 8 p.m. and lost contact with air traffic controllers two minutes after taking off. It was supposed to arrive in Iloilo City at 10 p.m. The plane earlier transported 84 Scout Rangers to Davao from Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija. (BOT/With reports from CPM)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Bacolod. (September 3, 2008 issue)
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