Search team nearing crash site in Sierra Madre

Screengrab from a video of the site where the crashed plane was located by authorities in San Mariano town in Isabela province. Photo from the Isabela Incident Management Team

CAUAYAN CITY—The Philippine Air Force on Wednesday dropped off an 11-member rescue team near the foot of Sierra Madre mountain ranges in San Mariano, Isabela, on Wednesday in a bid to speed up efforts in reaching the wreckage of a light plane that crashed there on Nov. 30.

The team is composed of personnel from the PAF, the Isabela disaster risk reduction and management office and the Bureau of Fire Protection. They were dropped off in the village of Casala in San Mariano, the nearest point to the crash site identified during an aerial search on Tuesday, according to lawyer Constante Foronda, commander of the Incident Management Team (IMT) overseeing the search and rescue operations.

Foronda said the team is expected to reach the site on Thursday. A separate team of ground rescuers started proceeding to the crash site on Tuesday and the IMT had yet to receive updates from its members as of Wednesday, he added.

In an earlier telephone interview, Joshua Hapinat, IMT spokesperson, said the wreckage of the Piper plane, which was carrying a pilot and a lone passenger, was seen by a team aboard a PAF Sokol helicopter in the forests of Barangay Casala as the skies cleared on Tuesday. Casala is adjacent to Sitio (subvillage) Dipadsangan in Barangay Didiyan, Palanan town, where the aircraft was first reported to have crashed after residents in the area reported hearing an engine noise and a thud.

Praying for a miracle

The IMT said it had yet to receive any information on the condition of the pilot, Capt. Levy Abul II, and his lone passenger, barangay health worker Erma Escalante, 43, on Wednesday.

Jerry Escalante, husband Erma, told reporters on Wednesday that he was relieved that the plane’s wreckage had been found.

He said his family and other relatives were still praying for a miracle. But he noted that they would “leave [it] to God” and accept reports that rescue teams would relay once they reached the crash site.

In an interview on Tuesday, Marlyn Sagorsor, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines North Luzon manager, said investigators from the agency’s aircraft accident and inquiry board would try to reach the crash site as soon as clearance would be given.

The three-seat Piper plane, owned by Fliteline Airways and operated by Cyclone Airways, took off from Cauayan Airport at 9:39 a.m. on Nov. 30. It was supposed to arrive at Palanan Airport, some 70 kilometers away, at 10:23 a.m. that day but went radio silent as it reached the borders of San Mariano and Palanan in the Sierra Madre.