50 killed and 49 injured in the worst air disaster for the Philippine army

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MANILA, Philippines (AFP) – Philippine forces have found the last five dead in a transport plane crash in the south, raising the death toll to 50 in the military’s worst air disaster, officials said Monday.

Military officials said the Lockheed C-130 Hercules was carrying 96 soldiers, most of them combatants, when it crossed the runway as it landed on Sunday at Jolo airport in Sulu province. It fell into a coconut grove outside the airport and caught fire in an afternoon disaster witnessed by the terrified soldiers and villagers.

Troops, police and firefighters rescued 49 military personnel, among whom were a few who jumped from the plane before it exploded and was scorched by flames. The military said seven people who fell to the ground were hit by aircraft parts and debris, three of whom were killed.

The Lockheed C-130 Hercules was one of two refurbished U.S. Air Force aircraft delivered to the Philippines, Washington’s oldest ally in Asia, as part of military assistance this year.

The plane had earlier flown two-star General Romeo Brawner Jr., his wife and three children from Manila to the southern city of Cagayan de Oro, where he is set to become the new regional military commander on Monday.

Those who boarded the C-130 plane in Cagayan de Oro for a flight to Solo were army soldiers, many of them newly trained recruits, to be deployed in the battle against the Abu Sayyaf fighters in the south.

Brauerner was surprised to learn that the plane he was flying on had crashed. “We are very grateful that we survived, but very sad that so many lost their lives,” Brawner told The Associated Press.

A video clip captured by the forces showed the plane landing in clear weather and then disappearing outside the airport. “He’s gone, he’s gone,” shouted one of the soldiers. Dark gray smoke later rose from the crash site in a wooded area as the soldiers shouted, “He fell, he fell” and hurled curses in horror.

“They were supposed to join us in our war on terror,” said Major General William Gonzalez, the military commander in Sulu. Government forces have been battling Abu Sayyaf fighters in the Muslim-majority province of Sulu for decades.

The cause of the accident was not immediately clear, and investigators were searching for the black boxes of the C-130 containing cockpit audio and flight data recorders.

The regional military commander, Lieutenant General Corlito Vinluan, said it was unlikely the plane had come under hostile fire. “The plane missed the runway and was trying to regain its strength, but it failed and crashed,” Army Chief of Staff General Cirilito Sobejana told reporters on Sunday.

An Air Force official told the Associated Press that Jolo’s runway is shorter than most other runways in the country, making it difficult for pilots to adjust when there is no aircraft in place. The official, who flew military planes to and from Gulu several times, spoke on condition of anonymity due to the lack of authority to speak publicly.

President Rodrigo Duterte expanded the military presence in Solo to a full contingent in late 2018, deploying hundreds of additional troops, Air Force planes and other combat equipment after pledging to eradicate the Abu Sayyaf. The small but brutal group has been blacklisted by the United States and the Philippines as a terrorist organization due to kidnappings, bombings, and beheadings for ransom.

Military historian Jose Custudio said the deadliest disaster for the Philippine Air Force before Sunday was the 1971 crash of a rice field north of Manila that killed 40 soldiers.

A recently delivered S-701 Blackhawk helicopter crashed more than a week ago near Clark Freeport, a former US air base, killing all six Air Force personnel on board.

The Philippine government has struggled for years to modernize its army, one of the least equipped in Asia, dealing with decades of Islamist and communist insurgencies and territorial disputes with China and other claimants in the South China Sea.

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