C-130 had 11 people on board, not 9 -- military
By Dennis Jay Santos, Joselle Badilla
Mindanao Bureau
First Posted 20:40:00 08/28/2008
Filed Under: Air and Space Accidents
DAVAO CITY, Philippines—The military on Thursday clarified that there were 11 people aboard the C-130, which crashed here on Monday evening, contrary to earlier reports that it was only carrying seven crew members and two pilots.
Major Armand Rico, spokesperson of the military's Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom) based here, said the two other persons aboard the plane were members of the Army's Scout Ranger.
Rico said they have to notify the families of the soldiers first before they can confirm their identities.
He did not give any details why the two soldiers were on the plane.
The C-130, which ferried Scout Ranger soldiers here from Nueva Ecija, was on its way to Iloilo City to pickup members of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) returning to Manila when it crashed in the Davao Gulf.
The crash site was approximately 2.5 kilometers from the village of Bucana here.
The search for possible survivors has not succeeded so far but the military said hopes have not dimmed that they will find some of the crash victims alive.
So far, search teams composed of volunteers, military and Coast Guard elements, have retrieved metal fragments, human body parts, tattered fabric and documents from the plane.
On Thursday morning, a decomposing left foot in a combat boots was found by fishermen Jamer Imani and Jimmy Lumanas in the village of Sasa, a few kilometers from the crash site.
Part of the C-130's windshield was also among those recovered by divers.
Captain Rosauro Arnel Gonzales, commander of the Task Force C-130 Hercules, said there was no timeline for the retrieval operations.
"We continue to exert our best effort to mobilize everything to detect and retrieve the fuselage," Gonzales told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net.
Gonzales said more civilian volunteer divers offered help in the retrieval operation.
But Gonzales said the lack of sophisticated equipment has been hampering their retrieval operation.
"We welcome organizations that will be able to lend us side (-scan) sonar. Sana kung may magpapahiram mas makakabuti sa retrieval operations. Wala kasi tayong ganun (If someone can lend us, it would greatly help retrieval operations. We don’t have that equipment)," he said.
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