MANILA: Philippine authorities said Monday (Feb 20) they would verify whether the wreckage of a small plane spotted near the crater of a restive volcano was that of a Cessna aircraft that went missing with four people on board over the weekend.
The Cessna 340, which was bound for Manila, took off from Albay province southeast of the capital Saturday morning with two Filipino pilots and two Australian passengers but has not been heard from since then, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines said.
The Australians were working for a geothermal power company, officials said.
Mayor Carlos Baldo of Albay’s Camalig town and other officials told reporters Sunday that, during an aerial search, authorities spotted the suspected wreckage, including the tail, scattered about 350m near the crater on the southwestern slope of Mayon Volcano but there was no indication of people.
Eric Apolonio, spokesperson of the government’s civil aviation authority, said experts and investigators from the agency would have to examine the wreckage to determine if it was the missing Cessna plane with registry number RP-C2080 and to determine the fate of the four people on board.
A ground search was hampered by rainy weather over the weekend and dozens of search and rescue personnel may scale the 2.5km Mayon if the weather clears Monday. The search teams would have to be closely monitored by volcano experts and local officials given the restiveness of Mayon, one of the country’s 24 active volcanoes.