A army airplane carrying a minimum of 85 folks “missed the runway” and crashed in the restive southern Philippines on Sunday, the armed forces chief said.
So far 40 people have been rescued from the burning wreckage of the C-130 transport aircraft, which was trying to land on Jolo island in Sulu province when the incident happened at 11:30 am local time (0330 GMT), said General Cirilito Sobejana.
“While transporting our troops from Cagayan de Oro (on the southern island of Mindanao), it missed the runway, trying to regain power but it didn’t make it,” Sobejana instructed native media, describing the accident as “very unlucky”.
“Responders are at the site now, we are praying we can save more lives,” Sobejana instructed AFP.
Sobejana stated the 40 rescued have been being handled on the close by eleventh Infantry Division hospital.
Many of the passengers had just lately graduated from primary army coaching and have been being deployed to the restive island as a part of a joint activity power preventing terrorism within the Muslim-majority area.
The army has a heavy presence within the southern Philippines the place militant teams, together with the kidnap-for-ransom outfit Abu Sayyaf, function.
C-130 plane, the work horses of the air power, are used to move troops and provides. They are additionally typically deployed to ship humanitarian help and catastrophe aid.
The accident comes after a Black Hawk helicopter crashed final month throughout a night-time coaching flight, killing all six on board.
Three pilots and three airmen died when their S70-i went down close to the (*85*) Valley coaching vary north of Manila, prompting the grounding of all the fleet.
The nation ordered 16 of the multi-role plane from a Polish agency that made them beneath licence from the Sikorsky division of US defence producer Lockheed Martin. Eleven have been delivered since late 2020.
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