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Search teams find debris, body from lost military flight

Rescuers and villagers found a body and debris yesterday that were believed to be from a C-130 military cargo plane that went missing in the southern Philippines, officials said.

The plane, transporting two pilots and seven crewmen, lost contact with air traffic control two minutes after taking off from Davao international airport in southern Mindanao island late on Monday.

“We have received reports from our tactical operations group in Davao that they have found debris near one village,” said Air force spokesman Major Gerardo Zamudio, who could not say if the items were from the plane.

One body has been recovered, said Major Armand Rico, a spokesman for the military’s regional command in the south.

Rescuers near the coastal town of Agdao have also retrieved combat boots and parts of a plane in the sea.

Personal effects, including ID cards, ripped clothing as well as wallets and air force documents were found in another coastal village and taken to a command post to be examined, Rico said.

Officials had initially declined to confirm the debris was from the 41-year-old Lockheed Martin aircraft, but investigators on the ground said evidence gathered so far indicated it was the missing craft.

The plane was scheduled to fly to the central city of Iloilo to pick up members of Philippine President Gloria Arroyo’s security team and then take them to Manila, Cadungog said.

The trip would have taken about one hour.

Witnesses heard a loud explosion shortly after it took off, said the head of the Air Force, Lieutenant-General Pedrito Cadungog, adding the incident was “very puzzling” and it was unusual for a large plane to go missing without a trace.

The C-130 was at an altitude of about 1,524m when it made its last call requesting clearance for a flight path, said Cadungog, who called the pilots seasoned airmen.

Three military helicopters were involved in the search, and Cadungog said he asked US forces to help.

There were no reports of maintenance problems with the C-130, he said.

The air force has not ruled out the possibility of an attack by Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels fighting government troops on the island.
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