Airlift eyed as retrieval of Mayon plane crash victims halted anew

DANGEROUS TASK Faced with challenging terrain, emergency responders work together to bring down from Mayon Volcano the cadaver of one of the victims of the Cessna plane crash in this photo taken on Sunday, Feb. 26. —Photo courtesy of CESSNA 340A INCIDENT COMMAND

LEGAZPI CITY—The retrieval of the four bodies of the Cessna plane crash victims was suspended on Sunday as bad weather conditions and the steep slopes of Mayon Volcano continued to pose risks to the responders.

Mayor Carlos Irwin Baldo Jr. of Camalig town in Albay province, the incident commander, said the operation was halted since Sunday afternoon to also give time for the responders to rest, who had taken the arduous trek up to the crash site, some 1,828.8 meters (6,000 feet) from the base of the volcano, on Feb. 21.

The responders—composed of experienced mountaineers and personnel from the Naval Special Operations Group, the Philippine Army and the Bureau of Fire Protection Special Rescue Force—braved dangerous terrain to recover the remains of the four persons who died when the Cessna RPC340 bound for Metro Manila from Bicol International Airport (BIA) crashed some 350 meters from the volcano’s summit crater on Feb. 18.

“We advised them to go down because of the heavy rains yesterday to rest and recharge,” he told the Inquirer in a phone interview on Monday.

Once the weather improved, the same group would continue the operations as they were already familiar with the trail and the strategies on how to bring down the victims’ remains, Baldo said.

Safe spots

Tim Lawrence Florece, municipal information officer of Camalig, said the incident management team was also coordinating with the Tactical Operations Group 5 of the Philippine Air Force, which is based in Legazpi City, for the possible airlifting of the bodies of the victims to hasten the operations.

“Initially, they are establishing safe spots to hover and at least lessen the burden of the responders,” Florece said in a separate interview.

The responders started to bring down the four cadaver bags on Feb. 25, but had difficulty negotiating the steep slopes, loose soil and rocks along the trail.

The remains of the pilot, Capt. Rufino James Crisostomo Jr., mechanic Joel Martin, and Australian passengers Simon Chipperfield and Karthi Santhanam were found a short distance from where the plane crashed.

Crisostomo and Martin were longtime employees of the Energy Development Corp., the country’s largest geothermal power producer, while the Australians were technical consultants of the company. They were returning to Manila from inspections in Albay and Sorsogon provinces when their plane disappeared minutes after it took off from BIA in Daraga, Albay, at 6:43 a.m. on Feb. 18. INQ