On Wednesday ( Mar 5 ) in a mountainous area of the country’s south, Philippine rescuers discovered the wreckage of a missing FA-50 fighter jet and the bodies of its two crew members.
The flight had gone missing a time before while it was on a quest to provide atmosphere support to soldiers in northern Mindanao fighting socialist rebels.
The two crewmen had been discovered inside the aircraft, according to Lieutenant General Luis Rex Bergante, the chief of Eastern Mindanao Command.
The bodies were discovered inside the plane, they said. He claimed that there was an attempt to eject and opened a balloon.
The entire plane was completely destroyed. The plane” smashed through” the mountain’s plants.
The missing warrior jet’s aircraft was discovered on Mount Kalatungan, according to Lieutenant Colonel Francisco Garello of the 4th Infantry Division.
The 2, 880m Kalatungan, which is located in Mindanao’s Bukidnon state, is the fifth-tallest rock in the Philippines.
Bergante claimed that the major focus now was to transport the servicemen’s remains down the mountainside.
He continued, adding that an investigation was being conducted into the crash’s reason.
DANGEROUS TERRAIN
Garello stated earlier on Wednesday that the research had been postponed immediately because there were” socialist groups” suspected of being operating in the area.
He claimed on Tuesday that his department had called in heat support following a shootout with the New People’s Army, a long-running Maoist rebel group, which is now thought to include fewer than 2, 000 soldiers.
The soldiers left from Mactan-Benito Ebuen Air Base, which has a airport similar to the airport in Cebu, the second-largest area in the Philippines.
The FA-50 squadron, which has been used in exercises over the contested South China Sea, was the” first significant incident involving,” according to Colonel Consuelo Castillo, a spokeswoman for the Air Force.