Cessna plane wreckage found; 2 bodies recovered

MANILA, Philippines — The wreckage of a Cessna trainer plane that crashed in Apayao was found while the remains of its two passengers were retrieved in Sitio Matad, Barangay Salvacion in Luna, Apayao on Thursday.

The fatalities were identified as pilot instructor Capt. Edzel John Lumbao and pilot student Anshum Rajkular Konde, an Indian.

Two platoons from the 5th Infantry Battalion, personnel of the Philippine National Police and members of the provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council conducted ground search.

The aircraft went missing shortly after it took off from the Laoag International Airport at 12:16 p.m. on Tuesday.

The plane was supposed to arrive at the Tuguegarao Airport after a “touch and go” activity at Cauayan airport in Isabela.

A team from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) Aircraft Accident Investigation and Inquiry Board is at the crash site.

CAAP spokesman Eric Apolonio said that since January, there have been five aircraft accidents in the country, two of them involving Cessna planes.

A Cessna plane crashed at Maconacon airport in Isabela on Jan. 24. Another Cessna plane crashed in Camalig town in Albay on Feb. 18 while an ambulance helicopter went missing in Balabac, Palawan on March 1.

On July 28, a helicopter operated by the Philippine Adventist Medical Aviation Services crash-landed in a banana plantation in Sitio Babahagon in Lantapan, Bukidnon.