Authorities have identified the nine people who died after a medical evacuation (medevac) plane crashed in a private resort in Pansol, Laguna on Sunday.
Among those killed were the pilot, co-pilot, the male patient and his wife.
Killed were Captain Jesus Hernandez, the pilot; First Officer Lino Cruz Jr., co-pilot; Dr. Garret Garcia; Kirk Eoin Badiola and Yamato Togawa, both nurses; Tom Carr, the patient, and his wife, Erma; Raymond Bulacja, flight mechanic; and one Ryx Gil Laput, a report from the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Region 4A disclosed.
The OCD-4A said the bodies of the nine fatalities were retrieved by authorities at 8:16 p.m.
Aside from the fatalities, two others were injured in the plane crash.
They were Maria Luisa Roca, 50, who suffered a first degree burn on his right arm; and John Rae Roca, 20, with a second degree burn on the face and first degree burn on both legs.
Both were caretakers of a house at a private resort located inside Miramonte Subdivision, Sitio 6, Brgy. Pansol, Calamba City where the plane crashed around 3:30 p.m.
The OCD-4A confirmed earlier reports that a King AIR 350 with tail #RPC 2296, an 11-seater medical evacuation plane, departed Dipolog City, Zamboanga del Norte at 1:40 p.m. en route to Manila when the accident happened.
Authorities have yet to determine the cause of the accident. The condition of the killed patient was not disclosed, according to OCD.
Eric Apolonio, Civil aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) spokesman, said the plane lost radar contact at around 3:10 p.m. while flying 25 nautical miles from Manila.
“The Philippine Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Center (PARCC) received an Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) alert from the satellite-aided search and rescue initiative Corpas-Sarsat near Pansol, Laguna at 3:14 p.m.,” he said.
By that time, the plane had crashed and was already engulfed in flames.
While nine individuals were aboard the plane, only eight were written in the manifesto, Apolonio noted.
He said investigators from the CAAP Aircraft Accident Investigation and Inquiry Board (AAIIB) have been dispatched to determine the cause of the accident. (Martin Sadongdong)
