Maj. Gen. Gabriel Habacon, 1st Army Division commander based in Western Mindanao, identified the fatalities as pilot Capt. Dioscoro Magallos Jr. and co-pilot Captain Julie Lee.
Habacon said reports reaching him disclosed that the plane, a twin engine, eight-seater Beechcraft 55-C with body number RP C808, plunged into the sea as it was preparing to land at the Ipil airport in Zamboanga del Sur at about 1:30 p.m.
He said the bodies of the pilots were trapped inside the ill-fated plane before they were recovered by the responding search and rescue team from the 102nd Army Brigade based in Ipil.
He said efforts to retrieve the ill-fate plane yielded negative results as they needed special equipment for its recovery.
The Air Transportation Office (ATO) said that the Beechcraft plane was owned by Top Flight Airways and was on a flight carrying cargo from Mactan, Cebu.
Assistant Secretary Nilo Jatico said that a report he received on the incident showed that the Beechcraft plane was configured to be a cargo aircraft.
Jatico also expressed sadness over another aircraft crash as the tragedy followed the tragic crash of a Philippine Air Force helicopter last April 28 where its occupants, including former Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) chairman Dr. Raymundo Punongbayan perished, and the May 8 crash of a small aircraft in Tanauan, Batangas last May 8 where four people were also killed.
Jatico observed that the summer heat could have something to do with the series of aircraft crashes.
"Summer has an effect. It's too hot... Kaya we have to be careful," he said.
He assured The STAR though that the incident will be investigated by the ATO and Top Fllight Airways’ fleet of Beechcrafts will certainly be grounded as a standard operating procedure of the ATO during such investigations. — Roel Pareño and Rainier Allan Ronda