BAGUIO CITY(PIA) -- Government responders recovered on Thursday the missing aircraft and its pilots that crashed in the province of Apayao on August 1, 2023.
The provincial government of Apayao confirmed that the lifeless bodies of Capt. Edzel John Lumbao Tabuzo, the pilot, and Anshum Rajkumar Konde, an Indian national and student pilot, were recovered from the crash site at the vicinity of Sitio Matad, Barangay Salvacion in Luna on Thursday afternoon, (August 3).
The body of Tabuzo was turned over to his family while the body of Konde will be turned over to the Indian Embassy.
Governor Elias Bulut, Jr. and the entire province of Apayao extended their condolences to the families of the victims.
The exact location of the crash site in the boundary of Salvacion in Luna and San Jose in Pudtol town was located thru the use of a drone operated by the Apayao Public Information Office team that was deployed along with the other uniformed personnel earlier on Thursday.
A Search, Rescue and Recovery Team composed of personnel from the Philippine Army, Philippine National Police, and Bureau of Fire Protection then proceeded to the area and recovered the bodies from the wreckage of the Echo Air Cessna 152.
Apayao Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officer Jeoffrey Borromeo said that four SRR teams were dispatched to locate the missing plane which was earlier reported to have possibly crashed in Apayao.
PDRMO thru Borromeo with Provincial Health Officer Dr. Mark Calban, and PLtCol. Oliver Panabang from the Apayao Police Provincial Office Provincial Operations and Management Unit conducted operational briefing to the SRR teams.
A team conducted aerial inspection thru a Philippine Air Force Black Hawk helicopter carrying medical and rescue teams on August 2 to the initially reported crash site in the boundary of Luna and Pudtol towns. The SRR operation was later aborted due to inclement weather.
The aircraft was reported missing afternoon of August 1, after departing from the Laoag International Airport at past 12 noon to Tuguegarao. But it failed to arrive at the Tuguegarao Airport. Its last signal transmission from the aircraft was received 35 nautical miles North-west of Alcala, Cagayan.
The Echo Air Cessna 152 was a US two-seater, fixed-tricycle-gear general aviation plane used for flight training and personal use.
The crash was the third recent incident involving a Cessna plane in the country this year.
A Cessna plane crashed near Mayon Volcano’s crater in Albay with all its four passengers confirmed dead after a day of search last February. Another Cessna plane was located 44 days after it went missing in the Sierra Madre forests of Barangay Ditarum in Divilacan in March with all its six passengers dead.
Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) said operations of the aircraft's operator, Echo Air, have been suspended.
CAAP said that investigators from the Aircraft Accident Investigation and Inquiry Board have been dispatched and will join the investigation on the cause of the crash incident.(JDP/RMC- PIA CAR)
