TRAGEDY SITE Military officers inspect the site in Patikul, Sulu province, where a Philippine Air Force Lockheed C-130 plane carrying troops crashed on Sunday. —REUTERS
MANILA, Philippines — The black box of the ill-fated C-130 plane that crashed in Sulu has already been found, Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Cirilito Sobejana said on Tuesday.
The recovery of the black box, which is essentially a flight recorder, was hoped to bring answers to questions as to what transpired in the last minutes of the C-130 flight before it missed the Sulu runway on Sunday, leaving 52 people dead and scores more wounded.
“Opo, kahapon ng umaga at around 11 o’ clock in the morning,” Sobejana said over Teleradyo when asked when the aircraft’s black box had already been found.
(Yes, it was found yesterday at around 11 o’ clock in the morning.)
“Sa ngayon nasa investigators na po, ‘yun ang sinusuri nila at pinapakinggan kung ano ‘yung naging last conversation ng pilot at crew,” Sobejana added.
(The blackbox is now with the investigators, they were inspecting and listening on the last conversation of the pilot and crew.)
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Investigators are still on the site, and the AFP is still waiting their findings, Sobejana said.
“They were also interviewing the witnesses, at yung area na-cordon ‘yung 1 kilometer radius para ma-recover natin ang debris at maisama sa pagsusuri,” he explained.
(They were also interviewing the witnesses, and the area within 1 kilometer radius was cordoned off so we could recover and examine the debris.)