Remains of passenger found near plane wreck
CAUAYAN CITY—Hope was dashed to find alive the missing passenger of a Piper plane wreck in San Mariano town in Isabela province after the tracker dogs deployed to the Sierra Madre’s rainforest found her remains on a mountain slope some 200 meters from the wreckage on Sunday.
Erna Escalante, 43, a barangay health worker of Divilacan town, was earlier believed to have survived the crash until she was found dead by K9 tracker dogs at 9:15 a.m. Sunday, according to lawyer Constante Foronda, Incident Management Team commander (IMT) and Isabela provincial disaster risk reduction management officer, in a text message to the Inquirer.Escalante’s remains were taken by the rescue team to the landing spot in Barangay Casala of the town where these were picked up by the Philippine Air Force (PAF) helicopter. Her remains arrived at the PAF-Tactical Operations Group (TOG) 2 base in Cauayan Airport at 2:20 p.m. and was taken to a funeral parlor in the city.
The PAF Sokol helicopter that transported Escalante’s remains has refueled and returned to the landing zone near the crash site to extricate the remaining retrieval team and equipment used.
But the team of investigators from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) that reached the wreckage on Friday is still at the crash site to continue their investigation to determine the cause of the crash, said Foronda.
Two deathsThe Piper plane, owned by Fliteline Airways and operated by Cyclone Airways, took off from the Cauayan Domestic Airport at 9:39 a.m. on Nov. 30 with pilot Capt. Levy Abul II and Escalante on board. It was supposed to arrive at Palanan airport, about 70 kilometers away, at 10:32 a.m. on the same day but failed to land at the designated time.
On Thursday, a separate team of rescuers found the body of Abul at the crash site. They also found some remnants of a temporary shelter near the wreckage, which they took as indication that Escalante was alive.
This prompted the IMT to deploy on Saturday scent-tracking canines and their handlers to find the missing passenger. Escalante’s body would be flown to Palanan, Isabela, after the processing of her remains at the local funeral home, Foronda added.
The relatives of Escalante requested for privacy to mourn their loss, Foronda added.The body of Abul was brought to the TOG 2 base and turned over to his family on Friday afternoon. His family has also requested privacy to mourn the loss of their departed kin.
Abul was cremated at a crematorium in Isabela on Saturday evening. INQ
