CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga, Philippines – An officer of the 710th Special Operations Wing (SPOW) of the Philippine Air Force fell to his death after his parachute failed to open during skydiving exercises here last Wednesday afternoon.
Brig. Gen. Fred Payawan, commander of the 600th Air Base Wing, said the accident involving M/Sgt. Samuel Nagac, who hailed from Cagayan de Oro City, occurred during skydiving exercises being conducted by the SPOW, one of the seven PAF units based here.
Payawan said skydivers normally jump off only when their aircraft reaches a height of 3,000 to 5,000 feet.
He said he did not have other details of the accident and referred queries to the 710th SPOW whose commander, however, was unavailable yesterday.
Payawan said the remains of Nagac would be brought to Metro Manila for burial later at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
In June last year, Army Sgt. Edwin Pascua also died after his parachute failed to open during military exercises under the Visiting Forces Agreement. It took searchers one hour to find his body in this freeport.