Bronco plane wreckage found; pilots still missing

MANILA, Philippines - A team of Philippine Navy Seals were preparing to dive on Thursday morning as search and rescue teams have finally found the main wreckage of the Philippine Air Force OV-10 Bronco bomber that crashed off Palawan Sunday night.

1st Lt. Cherry Tindog, spokesperson of the Armed Forces' Western Command (Wescom), said that the Navy Seals will attempt to determine if the Bronco plane's pilot, Maj. Jonathan Ybañez and co-pilot 1st Lt. Abner Nacion are inside the aircraft.

Tindog said that the Bronco sank 200 feet into the open sea and was detected by sonar sensors that the search and rescue teams rented on Tuesday.

He clarified that the operations has not been shifted to search and retrieval as the rescuers still hope that the PAF pilots were not trapped inside the Bronco plane's wreckage and were to eject from the plane before it crashed.

Wescom commander Lt. Gen. Rustico Guerrero had ordered the creation of “Task Force Bronco” dedicated mainly to look for the pilots. The task force is headed by Brig. Gen. Conrado Parra Jr. of the 570th Composite Tactical Wing BASED IN Camp Antonio Bautista Airbase in Palawan.

The team is composed of air and naval officers headed by Commodore Rustom Peña, the PNP-Maritime Special Boat Unit and Philippine Coast Guard members led by Commodore Efren Evangelista.

Tindog said the task force will release information to the media and families of the two pilots on developments of the operation.