Remains of 2 pilots jammed inside plane’s cockpit

MANILA, Philippines – The remains of two pilots of the doomed Piper Seneca aircraft have yet to be extricated due to the difficult position of the plane on the seabed, Major General Eduardo del Rosario said Tuesday afternoon.

A remote operated vehicle from the United States has been sent to the wreckage site to fully observe the situation of the fuselage from which the body of Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo had earlier been recovered, del Rosario, head of Task Force Kalihim, said in a radio interview.

He said they were looking at two options on how to retrieve the bodies of the pilots, identified as Captain Jessup Bahinting and Kshitiz Chand, a Nepalese flight student, either by getting the pilots out of the cockpit or raising the entire fuselage from the bottom of sea.

Del Rosario said that the fuselage was upside down on the seabed and there was no immediate exit from the cockpit. It was also too dark at the site which was around 180 feet below the surface, he said.

They are waiting for the expert opinion on how best to recover the bodies, he said. “We have excellent divers, they can do it. Our task force will continue, we will not disband until we are successful.”