Biliran PDRRMC: No plane crash; search called off

CEBU, Philippines - There was no plane crash in the mountains of Brgy. Imelda in Naval, Biliran and that the search for the supposed site has been called off at 1:05 p.m. yesterday.

This was the official declaration of Jun Dacillo, head of the Biliran Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council, in a phone interview with The Freeman yesterday afternoon.

"Based on the areal and ground survey from the morning on Tuesday until yesterday, we (the search team) found no trace of a plane crash," said Dacillo.

How did the report of the incident start? Dacillo said a resident of the mountain barangay reported to the barangay chairman that he allegedly saw a small plane flying erratically for a moment and then fell into the forested mountain.

Dacillo said all members of the search and rescue team, comprising of the military, the police, Red Cross volunteers from Tacloban and Ormoc cities, Naval LGU mountaineers and those from the Biliran Geothermal Inc., have withdrawn from the area.

On the report that the plane may have come from an aviation school in Ormoc, Dacillo said that so far nobody from the school had come over to seek for help in searching for anybody. "This means that the report was not true," he added. — (FREEMAN)