Light plane crashes; 3 killed

Three people were confirmed killed when a private plane crashed at the Riviera Golf and Country Club in Silang, Cavite after noon yesterday, the Philippine Air Force (PAF) reported yesterday.

PAF chief Lt. Gen. Nestor Santillan dispatched a rescue helicopter to the site while Air Transportation Office chief Adelberto Yap inspected the crash site for an initial investigation.

Initially, probers could not establish the identities of the three victims who were burned beyond recognition after the plane exploded and hurtled to the ground in flames.

But authorities later identified the fatalities as Capt. Mario Diwatin, the pilot, a certain Arturo Luduvico and one Lourdes Galang.

The victims were on board a single-engine, six-seater Piper Cherokee 180, with registry number RPC-1172, belonging to Jackpot Marine Chartering Services and were bound for Cuyo island in Palawan.

But a few minutes after taking off from the Manila Domestic Airport, the plane hit a coconut tree and an electrical post before crashing inside the golf club at around 12:21 p.m.

Lewis Rissman, the Canadian manager of the golf club, said the plane struck power lines, crashed belly first on the ground then hit a mound of dirt in an area being developed as a residential enclave.

"The plane then flipped over and exploded as it hit another mound of dirt. It was completely destroyed," Rissman told The Assoiated Press by telephone. — Sandy Araneta, Arnell Ozaeta, Mike Frialde