PCG divers find plane's engine

CEBU, Philippines - The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has recovered the right engine of the Piper Seneca plane that crashed into the waters of Masbate last August 18, killing Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo and two pilots.

This also signals that all search and retrieval operations in Masbate are now terminated.

The two pilots, who died in the crash were Cebuano Capt. Jessup Bahinting and Nepalese Kshitiz Chand.

According to PCG Bicol District commander Commodore Joel Garcia, the divers found the location of the plane’s right engine 186 feet under the sea and 800 meters from shore at around 12:45 p.m. yesterday.

Retrieval

“Ninety percent of the retrieval operations had been completed. The difficult part is over since they have already identified the location of the right engine... They need to put markers so the next time they dive they would not have a difficult time finding its location again,” Garcia said.

The engine will be tied to a floating marker balloon and to a fishing boat that has a long cargo boom.

Before the divers conducted their second dive to retrieve the right engine at 5 p.m. yesterday, they took a 10-minute break around noon as a sign of respect for Robredo, who was laid to rest yesterday, 10 days after the crash.

Paying Respect

PCG spokesman Lieutenant Commander Armand Balilo said that commandant Vice Admiral Edmund Tan gave instructions that at exactly noon, all PCG vessels were to blow their horns for about two minutes in memory of Robredo.

Tan said the PCG divers and personnel from their Masbate station did not have the opportunity to pay homage to Robredo since his body was recovered because their work at the crash site was not done.

The PCG ship BRP EDSA 2 also performed a flower drop at the crash site.

Crucial Piece

Garcia explained that it was important to recover the right engine, since it will be used in the investigation of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP).

The right engine would help the CAAP find ways to prevent a similar incident from happening again, Garcia added.

Insurance

Meanwhile, according to a source at the CAAP, the Aviatour Fly’N Inc. insured the ill-fated Piper Seneca RPC-4431 for P2.5 million, while its passengers and crew were covered for P500,000 each.

The insurance policy MICO/AV/00/201100519 covers the period from Oct. 16, 2011 to Oct. 15, 2012.

The source said if the plane was insured for P4 million, the family of the passengers and crew could claim up to P1-million each in insurance coverage in case of death.

According to documents shown by the source, the plane was sold to Aviatour Fly’N Inc. in Cebu on Sept. 24, 2007. The aircraft bill of sale, however, did not indicate the amount of the sale. – /NLQ - THE FREEMAN-  Philippine Star News Service