No sign of plane that ‘crashed’ off Palawan–local officials

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan, Philippines—Authorities have not found any sign of a plane that supposedly crashed off southern Palawan on Wednesday as claimed by some witnesses, but have decided to continue to scour the near shore areas where sightings were reported.

READ: Plane crashes off Palawan

Gilbert Baaco, head of the provincial government’s rescue and quick reaction group, said on Thursday that they have not found any indication of a crash as initially reported by local residents.

“We still have Rescue 165, the Navy and Coast Guard searching the areas pointed out by local residents but we have not yet found anything,” Baaco said.

READ: Search-rescue teams sent to verify reports of plane crash off southern Palawan

Baaco added they have also not received a report of any missing aircraft in the vicinity of southern Palawan.

Several residents of Brooke’s Point, the town in the south-eastern section of the province some 215 kilometers from this city, claimed to have seen an airplane going down in flames in the Sulu Sea side of the town.