ZAMBOANGA CITY – The Philippine military said a total of 50 soldiers, including three civilians, were killed in the crash of an air force transport plane in the southern province of Sulu.
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| Military photos from Kalinaw News show the wreckage of the ill-fated transport plane in Sulu's Patikul town. |
It said 49
soldiers and four civilians were also wounded when the C-130 cargo plane
crashed Sunday after it overshot the runway in the capital town of Jolo. The
plane was transporting soldiers from Cagayan de Oro City in northern Mindanao.
The military is
investigating the fiery crash, adding all passengers and crew of the ill-fated
aircraft had been accounted for.
Philippine
military chief General Cirilito Sobejana said the C-130 aircraft missed the
runway and failed to gain altitude and crashed in Patikul's Bangkal
village.
Photos of
the crash quickly went viral on social media with several pictures showing the
two soldiers lying on the grass near the wreckage. The crash site is surrounded
by small trees and a bamboo fence indicating it is a civilian area.
One photo
shows two an army lieutenant, his head bloodied and another soldier nearby
being assisted by unidentified men, probably soldiers too, who were on the
scene. And another photo shows the burning wreckage of the aircraft – its tail
number 5125 is visible even as black and white smoke billowed from the plane.
Uniformed soldiers were also on the scene trying to help put out the
fire.
According to
a report of MaxDefense Philippines, the transport plane was the former MC-130
Combat Spear aircraft of the US Special Operations Command. The aircraft, it
said, was purchased under Horizon 2 phase using Philippine funding and U.S.
military assistance grant.
The crash
came four days after a Philippine Air Force S-701
Black Hawk helicopter crashed during night flight training in the town of Capas
in Tarlac province in central Luzon, killing all six airmen aboard.
The downed
Polish-built chopper was under the 205th Tactical Helicopter Wing based at
Clark Air Base. The cause of the crash is still being investigated.
The
helicopters are manufactured by PZL Mielec, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin,
which had also previously acquired Sikorsky, the original manufacturer of the
Black Hawk.
The Philippines
acquired the helicopters under a government-to-government deal with Poland,
signing a contract worth $241 million in 2019. The Black Hawks are being bought
under the U.S. ally’s five-year Horizon 2 modernization program, which will run
from 2018-2022. (Mindanao Examiner)
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