Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 4: In one of its worst military aviation accidents, at least 29 people were killed and 50 injured when a Philippine military aircraft carrying troops crashed and burst into flames after missing the runway at Jolo airport in the south of the country on Sunday, officials said.
About 40 people have been rescued from the aircraft but at least 17 soldiers are reported to be still “missing” and a search has been undertaken, the official added.
Nearly 100 people, most of them recent army graduates, were on the C-130 Hercules transport plane which was trying to land on Jolo island in Sulu province around midday.
Some of the soldiers were seen jumping out of the plane before it hit the ground and exploded into flames, said Major General William Gonzales, commander of the Joint Task Force-Sulu.
The officials said it was one of the country’s deadliest military aviation accidents.
“This is a sad day but we have to remain hopeful,” Gonzales said in a statement. “We enjoin the nation to pray for those who are injured and those who have perished in this tragedy.”
Photos of the crash site released by the Joint Task Force-Sulu showed the damaged tail and the smoking wreckage of the fuselage’s back section lying near coconut trees.
Armed Forces Chief General Cirilito Sobejana said the aircraft was carrying troops from Cagayan de Oro on the southern island of Mindanao when it “missed the runway” as it tried to land on Jolo. The plane tried to “regain power but didn’t make it”, he told the local media.
The four-engine plane crashed near a quarry in a lightly populated area, First Lieutenant Jerrica Angela Manongdo said. Western Mindanao Command chief Lieutenant General Corletan Vinluan quoting initial reports said the aircraft overshot the landing strip and broke into two.
Air force spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Maynard Mariano said the cause of the crash would be investigated. Most of the passengers had recently graduated from basic military training and were being deployed to the restive island as part of a joint task force fighting terrorism in the Muslim-majority region. They were supposed to report for duty on Sunday, Gonzales said.
The military has a heavy presence in the southern Philippines where terrorist groups, including the kidnap-for-ransom outfit Abu Sayyaf, operate. But the army authorities did not consider it as a case of sabotage by the terrorists and said prima facie it looked like an accident.
C-130s have been the workhorses of air forces around the world for decades, used to transport troops, supplies and vehicles. They are also often deployed to deliver humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
The Hercules that crashed Sunday has the same tail number as one acquired from the United States and delivered to the Philippines earlier this year.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque described the accident as “very unfortunate”, and the US embassy Charge d’Affaires John Law offered “sincerest condolences” to the families of the victims.
Sunday’s accident comes after a Black Hawk helicopter crashed last month during a night-time training flight, killing all six on board. The accident prompted the grounding of the Philippines’ entire Black Hawk fleet.