By Ronron
April 28, 2005
Nine persons, including the former Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) director, are feared dead already after the military chopper they were riding crashed Thursday morning in a remote and mountainous area in Gabaldon town, Nueva Ecija.
Philippine Air Force (PAF) spokesperson Lt. Col. Restituto Padilla said the team, composed of four PAF personnel and five others from the PHIVOLCS and the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC), were “on mission to conduct aerial ocular inspection” in Dingalan town, Aurora province when the accident happened at around 10:47 am at Mt. Namat, Barangay Ligaya, Gabaldon.
Former PHIVOLCS Director Raymundo Punongbayan, now Governor of the PNRC, was among the passengers.
“The immediate activity (of the team) would be to assess the potential of additional landslides in the area (Dangalan) which happened last year because of strong rains and for the coming rains,” incumbent PHIVOLCS Director Renato Solidum said.
According to Padilla, the UH-1H chopper, piloted by 1Lt. Reynaldo Garrodias, took off from Villamor Airbase in Pasay City at 6:58 am yesterday. It arrived at Fort Magsaysay, Nueval Ecija for a “gas up” at 7:40 am. Then, it flew again at 8:41 am heading towards Dingalan.
Gabaldon Municipal Police Station Chief Sr./Insp. Pablo Cruz claimed of seeing four dead bodies at the crash site, two of whom were wearing PAF uniforms while the two others were charred beyond recognition.
He also described the chopper to be in total wreck, showing signs that it exploded when it crashed.
Cruz disclosed that the crash site is woody and is about 50 meters away from the nearest residential area.
“We are still investigating the cause of the accident. And even if there is no indication of an environmental factor, we are not discounting that possibility,” Padilla said.
Senator Richard Gordon, Chairman of the PNRC, said the mission was organized by the PNRC, in coordination with PHIVOLCS, “to confirm the reported danger on Dingalan Bay.”
“We went there last week and we saw stones, trees and debris already near the villages… Gov. Punongbayan went back there a few days after for an ocular inspection and submitted to me a report about it. In that report, he asked for an aerial survey to confirm his initial report,” Gordon said.
The senator said the former PHIVOLCS director was “really enthusiastic about the aerial survey” because he wanted to make sure that the evacuation or relocation site for the victims in last year’s tragedy in Aurora and its neighboring provinces is safe.
Solidum identified the other passengers as Dr. Norman Tungol, Chief of the PHIVOLCS Geology and Geophysics Research division; Dr. Jessie Daligdig, a scientist from the Department of Science and Technology; Dindo Javier, and Orlando Abengoza, both staff members of PHIVOLCS tasked to document the mission.
The other PAF crew, meanwhile, were also identified as 1Lt. Jason Salazar (co-pilot), S/Sgt. Edgar Ramolete, and S/Sgt. Wilbert Tacatac.
The PAF sent three Huey helicopters to the site to conduct search and recovery operations./DMS
UPDATE ON CHOPPER CRASH
According to Lt. Col. Restituto Padilla, Air Force spokesperson, all nine passengers died in the crash. But only six or seven bodies were retrieved intact. Nonetheless, authorities are already convinced that the rest perished as well becasue it was impossible to survive in said accident. These bodies arrived at the Villamor Airbase at past 5pm.
The retrieval operations at the crash site was also called off already at 6pm since they could no longer see any body. At the moment, Padilla does not know yet whether or not it will resume tomorrow.
Padilla also disclosed that the aerial mission was supposed to last for a day. The crash happened while the team was conducting the aerial survey./DMS
UPDATE/CORRECTIONS
Two of the recovered bodies have already been identified to be that of 1Lt. Reynaldo Gerodias and Sgt. Wilbert Tacata.
The six-member investigating team is headed by Col. Eusaquito Manalo, Director, Air Force Safety Office.
The Huey is the AFP's workhorse for its operations: ferrying troops and supplies in conflict areas and evacuating combat casualties. The chopper's versatility extends to disaster relief and other mercy missions, such as those conducted during the flooding in Quezon and Aurora provinces last November and December 2004.
The Huey 324 is one of the 8 (not five as initially stated) received by the PAF from the United States under its Excess Defense Article (EDA) Program in January 2002. The aircraft sustained damage after landing hard during a training sortie in August 2003 but was put back in commission in May 2004 after a thorough structural repair. The helicopter is operated by the 207th Tactical Helicopter Squadron of the 205th Helicopter Wing based in Villamor Airbase.
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