Two killed in plane crash off Santiago cove in Ilocos Sur

SANTIAGO, Ilocos Sur–Divers on Saturday (Oct. 22) retrieved the bodies of a pilot and his female passenger from an aircraft deep under the sea where it crashed on Friday afternoon (Oct. 21) at Santiago Cove.

The retrieval team pulled out the remains of pilot John Kaizan Estabillo and Paula Bianca Robles from the cockpit window of the Cessna airplane which had settled 20 feet underwater, about 700 meters from the coast.

The airplane, bearing body numbers RP-C7838, flew from the airport at Vigan City and was observed flying around the cove by witnesses when it suddenly tried to pull up to avoid the zipline which was set up 50 to 70 meters high near the beach.

The right wing of the plane snagged the zip line forcing it to fall into the sea at 3:28 p.m., said Michael Barba, a resident here.

READ: Two feared dead in plane crash off Santiago cove in Ilocos Sur

Fishermen were the first to sail toward the area where the plane sunk, and took close to an hour to approximate where the aircraft was located, said Candon City Fire Marshal Nemesio Valenciano, who was brought in to assist the rescue.

The divers found the plane and found the remains strapped to their seats. They managed to obtain the victims’ belongings at the back of the plane which helped the police identify the two fatalities.

But the waters were turbid and murky because of Typhoon Lawin’s onslaught and it took until Saturday morning for the disaster relief workers, the Philippine Coast Guard and the Philippine Navy to send divers to pull out the bodies.

The families of Estabillo and Robles were at the area when the remains were recovered. CDG