Jet carrying gov't execs skids off Tacloban runway

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED 2:17 p.m.) — A private airplane skidded off the runway at the airport in Tacloban City on Saturday before taking off a few moments after Pope Francis' flight left the area.

Rodante Joya, deputy director of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, said in a dzBB interview that the plane lost control due to the gusty winds brought by storm "Amang."

The plane carried Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, and Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr.

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chaiperson Francis Tolentino, who witnessed the incident, said in a separate interview over radio dzMM that Ochoa and Coloma escaped the accident unhurt.

The plane's nose hit the grassy part outside the runway and smoke was detected to have risen from the aircraft.

Fire fighters rushed to the scene shortly after the mishap.