LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – A police superintendent, a police pilot and another police officer survived a helicopter crash landing atop a mountain in remote Tinglayan town in Kalinga before noon Wednesday.
Sr. Supt. Oliver Enmodias, chief of the operations branch of the Cordillera regional police command, the helicopter’s pilot –Chief Inspector Dexter Vitug and Police Officer 3 Jude Duque were discharged from the Kalinga provincial hospital Wednesday afternoon, several hours after the R44 PNP helicopter they were riding met turbulent winds and crash landed in barangay Bitaloyongan in Tinglayan town.
The police officers, who were rushed by Philippine Air Force choppers to the hospital, were part of a government contingent raiding marijuana plantations in the hinterland village. They suffered minor injuries from the crash.
The pilot, said Cordillera police director Chief Supt. Benjamin Magalong, believed strong winds damaged the helicopter's rotor, forcing him it to land it.
The pilot said he did not notice any mechanical problem before they took off from the Kalinga provincial office in Tabuk City, the province’s capital town earlier this morning.
The PNP-issued helicopter was heavily damaged and is being secured by Philippine Army troopers and local policemen before it will be hauled out Thursday from the site for investigation and repair.
The crash landing, Magalong said, did not stop policemen aided with agents of the Phil. Drug Enforcement Agency-Cordillera and Philippine Army troopers from raiding marijuana plantations in the area. - Artemio A. Dumlao