Pilot hurt but alive after crop duster crash

MIRACLE The pilot of this plane, a total wreck after crashing in a banana plantation, is alive. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

COTABATO CITY—A pilot survived the crash of his crop duster in a banana plantation in the town of Ampatuan, Maguindanao province, on Saturday.

Senior Supt. Ronald Briones, Maguindanao police chief, identified the pilot in a report as Capt. Dennis Pandi.

The crop duster, being used to spray pesticides on the plantation, was a total wreck.

Employees of the company Amardi banana plantation, which runs the area where the plane crashed, brought Pandi to the Maguindanao Provincial Hospital in Shariff Aguak town.

Pandi is one of the pilots employed by Davao Airworks, a company providing pesticide spraying services to agricultural plantations across Mindanao.

Robert Mauricio of Amardi said the plane’s engine malfunctioned while on a spraying mission in Ampatuan.

The plane, according to Mauricio, slammed into several banana plants before crashing past 9 a.m.

Mauricio said the pilot was in stable condition at the hospital.