BY LENDER C. DOMINGO
CAUAYAN CITY (July 24)—Four people were confirmed dead as a Philippine Air Force helicopter crashed and exploded here on Thursday night, authorities said.
Air Force Lt. Col. Augusto Padua, Tactical Operations Group 2 (TOG2) commander, said they have yet to inform the relatives of the fatalities before officially releasing their names.
Fire Chief Insp. Aristotle Atal, Bureau of Fire Protection Cauayan City chief, said they have recovered two more fatalities who were reported missing in addition to the two others who were identified as the pilot and co-pilot found inside the charred helicopter.
THE wreckage of a Philippine Air Force (PAF) Huey (UH-1D) helicopter lies on the ground of the Tactical Operations Group (TOG-2) area at Cauayan Air Station in Isabela. The chopper crashed during a proficiency training flight Thursday night. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Rescuers found the two other bodies pinned in the wreckage at 1 a.m. on Friday.
Atal said another crew member managed to jump out of the helicopter before it crashed but sustained multiple injuries and was now being treated at the Isabela United Doctors Medical Center here. He was reportedly in critical condition.
“We were not able to immediately draw near the helicopter due to extreme heat of the billowing fire which took firefighters 30 minutes to extinguish with the help of the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Rescue 922 and other agencies,” Atal said.
The chopper with tail no. 8308 was on night vision test training when the accident happened at 7 p.m. at the ramp area of TOG2 in Barangay San Fermin here.
Media practitioners were barred from entering the crash site.
Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) investigators will arrive later in the day for the official investigation on the cause of the crash.