US serviceman among 4 dead in Maguindanao plane crash
COTABATO CITY—Residents of Barangay Malatimon in Ampatuan, Maguindanao del Sur, heard an explosion in midair shortly before a US military-contracted aircraft nosedived into a rice field in their village on Thursday afternoon, killing its pilot and three passengers.
The plane, a Beechcraft King Air 350 with registration number N349CA, was circling around the adjoining towns of Ampatuan, Datu Hoffer and Shariff Aguak when the disaster happened.
“I heard an explosion and tiny smoke billowed out of the plane as it nosedived in an area 50 meters from several houses,” Bheng Salinogen, a resident of Malatimon, told the Inquirer on Friday, speaking in the vernacular.
“Even people from nearby villages also noticed the unusual sound of the plane as it swayed left, then right, before plummeting into the [rice] farm,” said Salinogen, who was among those who immediately alerted authorities about the accident through social media by posting photos and videos from the crash site.
“I think the plane had [mechanical] problems because it was not flying straight but gliding left and right until it crashed,” she added.
When asked if the plane could have been possibly shot down, Salinogen said she never heard gunshots.
An initial report by the Ampatuan municipal disaster risk reduction and management office cited the accounts by other residents saying they saw some parts of the plane burning before the midair explosion.
Intel, surveillance mission
The US Indo-Pacific Command (Indopacom) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines admitted that the plane, owned by Metrea Special Aerospace ISR Inc., and contracted by the US military, was doing routine intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission “in support of security cooperation activities.”
Such activities, said Indopacom in a statement, were carried out on the request of the Philippines, a US treaty ally.
Col. Francel Margareth Padilla, the AFP spokesperson, said in a statement that they were not disclosing the details of the mission “in the interest of confidentiality and operational security.”
“Our collaboration [with the United States] continues to strengthen our capabilities in addressing security challenges and ensuring peace and stability in the region,” Padilla added.
Indopacom said a US military service member and three defense contractors died during the crash.
“We can confirm no survivors of the crash,” it said, adding that names of the fatalities have been withheld pending notification to their families.
In a statement on Friday, Metrea said “the families of our crew have been informed and we’re providing [them] full support.”
The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), in a statement also on Friday, said an investigation of the crash was under way and that they were “working closely with local authorities to determine the cause of the incident.”
It also confirmed that one of the fatalities was a US military serviceman while the nationalities of the others were still being verified.
The CAAP said the aircraft came from Cebu and was on its way to Cotabato City for an aerial survey when it crashed.
After the crash, locals milled around the plane’s two piles of wreckage, some even climbing atop its overturned fuselage, until police and military personnel cordoned off the area.
“The plane’s debris is still there, cordoned off by soldiers and police who secured the area overnight until this morning (Friday),” Salinogen said.
Lt. Col. Roden Orbon, speaking for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said soldiers and policemen were helping US personnel in accounting for items from the crash site.
At 7 a.m. on Friday, a US Chinook helicopter landed near the crash site and retrieved the victims’ remains placed inside body bags.
‘Fifth’ victim
A fifth “victim” of the crash was a carabao used as a farm hand. It probably died from massive bleeding as its snout was slashed after it was hit by the plane, residents said.
Salinogen said its owner, Bainola Akan, 60, a Maguindanao widow, is seeking help from the government on how she can get compensation for her farm animal.
She said Akan had complained about losing her only source of income. The carabao, she said, is being rented out for hauling harvested palay from the field to warehouses and solar drying area in their community.
“Akan said she did not know where to go to seek compensation of about P35,000,” Salinogen added.
Akan had the carabao butchered on Thursday and its meat shared with community members. —WITH REPORTS FROM DREMA Q. BRAVO, EDWIN O. FERNANDEZ, JULIE S. ALIPALA, NESTOR CORRALES, JEROME ANING AND REUTERS
