8 killed in Philippines plane crash

ZAMBOANGA CITY: An ageing Philippine Air Force Nomad aircraft crashed in Cotabato City in the southern region of Mindanao on Thursday, killing all eight people onboard including a senior military commander, officials have said.

Regional military spokesman Maj. Randolph Cabangbang said commander of the 3rd Air Division in Zamboanga City Maj. Gen. Mario Butch Lacson was among the dead.

Cabangbang said the plane crashed into a village in Cotabato City two minutes after it took off at around 11.35 a.m. from a military base in Maguindanao province.

“It is a sad day for us. All eight passengers and crew perished in the crash,” he said.

Lacson’s group was returning to Zamboanga City from a conference in Davao City, but their plane had a brief stop at an air force base in Maguindanao’s Awang town.

Other reports claimed soldiers pulled out the charred remains of the passengers, including two pilots and a crewman.

It is unknown whether there were casualties other than those in the plane, but the aircraft had crashed into two houses that caught fire.

Cabangbang said there was an ongoing investigation into the crash.

“We still don’t know what happened, but the plane is quite old,” he said.

The Philippine Air Force has one of the oldest fleet of aircrafts in the world, including about a dozen Nomad planes.