Two choppers crash; 13 killed

Thirteen people, including the mother of Palawan Gov. Joel Reyes, were killed in two helicopter crashes yesterday.

Six of the fatalities were on a military chopper that plunged on its way to the site of the first crash.

Lualhati Reyes and five others perished when their helicopter crashed into a watershed about 60 kilometers from Puerto Princesa City at about 4:40 p.m. yesterday, authorities said.

Rolando Bonoan, provincial information officer, identified the five other fatalities, aside from Mrs. Reyes, as Modesto Gilongos, executive assistant in the governor’s office; Ramil Miraflores, provincial security officer; Jun Sta. Reyes, a friend of the Reyes family from Bulacan; Capt. Rene Marucot and his assistant, a certain Ompong.

Bonoan said the fatalities were on their way to Puerto Princesa from San Vicente town, about 100 kilometers from the city, when their helicopter crashed in a watershed in Sitio Mabugay, Barangay Manalo, still within the city’s jurisdiction.

The chopper, RPZ 2345, was reportedly owned by the JAKA firm of Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile.

Bonoan said the victims’ bodies were charred as residents near the crash site claimed seeing an explosion.

Bonoan said personnel of the 570th Composite Tactical Wing of the Philippine Air Force based in Antonio Bautista Air Base in Puerto Prinsesa responded to the crash.

But Chief Superintendent Nestorio Gualberto, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, said a chopper from the Air Force Wing, which was carrying a medical team, plunged on its way to the crash site past 8 p.m.

Gualberto said six passengers of the military chopper died, while one survived.

Governor Reyes was still unavailable for comment. Bonoan said he was extremely shocked by the incident.

Reyes took over as Palawan governor after his predecessor, Salvador Socrates, died in a Nomad airplane crash on July 2 last year.

He is at present locked in a tight electoral race against Puerto Princesa Mayor Edward Hagedorn. — Jaime Laude, Sheila Crisostomo, Zonito Torrevillas