THE remains of all nine passengers of the medical evacuation plane that crashed in Calamba, Laguna have been retrieved, police said.
In a report, Laguna Police Director Eleazar Matta identified the fatalities as Captain Jesus Hernandez, pilot; First Officer Lino Cruz Jr., co-pilot; Doctor Garret Garcia; nurses Kirk Eoin Badilla and Yamato Togawa; Ryx Gil Laput; Raymond Bulacja; Tom Carr, patient; and patient’s wife Erma.
Matta said they were retrieved by 8:16 p.m. Sunday, September 1, 2019.
Two persons, John Rey and Malou Roca, were injured when the medevac plane went down at around 3 p.m. Sunday in Agojo Private Resort located inside Miramonte Subdivision in Barangay Pansol.
Matta said that based on initial investigation, the 11-seater plane, King AIR 350 with tail number RPC 2296, was bound for Manila from Dipolog City in Zamboanga del Norte.
Witnesses said they saw smoke coming out of the plane before it crash landed.
The accident caused an explosion and a fire that reached first alarm, reports said.
Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) spokesperson Eric Apolonio said that based on their record, the plane disappeared from their radar at 3:10 p.m. as it flew over Laguna, about 60 kilometers south of Manila.
The Philippine Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Center received an emergency locator transmitter (ELT) alert from the satellite-aided search and rescue initiative Corpas-Sarsat near Pansol at 3:14 p.m.
Investigation by the CAAP Aircraft Accident Investigation and Inquiry Board on the cause of the crash is ongoing. (SunStar Philippines)