Bad weather hampers plane search in Isabela
CAUAYAN CITY—The recurring rains on Saturday brought on by northeast monsoon continued to slow down the search for the Cyclone-owned RP-C1234 Cessna plane that went missing in Isabela province on Thursday.
Glenn Cabaldo, the municipal disaster risk reduction and management officer of Palanan town, told reporters on Saturday that the search has slowed down but did not stop the 44 rescuers who have been searching for the missing plane at the thickly forested Sierra Madre mountains since Friday.
As of Saturday, intermittent heavy rains continue to pour down Isabela and Cagayan provinces.
The multisector rescue team is made up of police, Army soldiers, firemen, disaster responders and Dumagats who have been privy of the terrain along the Sierra Madre.
The Cessna piper plane, with pilot Capt. Levy Abul II and passenger Myrna Escalante on board, took off at 9:39 a.m. on Nov. 30 from the Cauayan Airport but it did not land at the Palanan airport, a flight that normally only took 25 minutes.
According to Cabaldo, the search teams have been zeroing on the possible location of the three-seater plane along Sitio Dipadsangan, Barangay Didian of Palanan before it lost communication, as reported by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines.
Possible location
Didian is estimated to be 14 kilometers from Barangay Casala in San Mariano town, also in Isabela, which was within the radius of the forest area that was tracked in a flight radar application where the plane’s radio went silent.
Cabaldo said that until Saturday, the civil defense and operations team could not contact the mobile phones of Abul and Escalante.
The Philippine Air Force’s Tactical Operations Group 2 has also set aerial search but could not penetrate the foggy areas along the Sierra Madre, initial reports said.
Police Capt. Eduard Caballero, Cauayan Aviation police station chief, said the flight between Cauayan to Metro Manila remained normal but the flight operations to the coastal towns of Palanan and Maconacon remained suspended due to the missing plane.
