CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga -- The bodies of two Indian nationals were retrieved on Friday, February 8, by the Philippine Army and Bataan Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council at the plane crash site in Mt. Natib, Orani, Bataan.
Police Regional Office III director Chief Superintendent Joel Coronel said rescuers have been searching for the Cessna training aircraft that crashed on Monday in Bataan.
Coronel said Captain Navern Nagaraja, instructor pilot and student pilot Kuldeep Singh were on board the Cessna aircraft operated by Fliteline Aviation School when the plane crashed.
The aircraft was found at a ridge between two mountains some 2.1 kilometers from Barangay Tala, Orani town.
He said that the Cessna was totally charred and the crash site was also burned.
The bodies of the victims were found inside the aircraft.
It was learned that the Cessna aircraft left Plaridel for Subic Monday morning and was to return to Plaridel in the same morning but for still unknown reasons, it crashed in Tala.
Lt. Col. Arnel Cabugon, 48th IB Battalion commander, said the plane was a total wreck. “Sunog ang eroplano at dalawang sakay na hindi na makilala (The plane was totally burned and the passengers unrecognizable),” he said.
Men from the 48th IB were the first to arrive and cordoned the area Thursday night.
A helicopter from the Philippine Air Force airlifted the bodies from the crash site to the 1Bataan Command Center in Orani. (Ric Sapnu)