SEARCH AND RESCUE. Lt. Col. Jose Mari F. Torrenueva II (right, in combat uniform), commander of the 91st Infantry “Sinagtala” Battalion, Philippine Army, looks at the map being used to search for a missing training aircraft at the tactical command post of the 91IB in Maria Aurora town, Aurora province on Monday, July 29, 2019. The missing aircraft, C-152, RPC 3604, was piloted by Aaron Dizon. (Photo by Jason De Asis)
MARIA AURORA, Aurora—Authorities are conducting search and rescue operations for a missing training aircraft in the mountains of Maria Aurora and San Luis, this province.
The missing aircraft, C-152, RPC 3604, that was being piloted by Aaron Dizon, is owned by the Omni Aviation Corporation.
Based on the report from the tactical command post of the 91st Infantry “Sinagtala” Battalion, Philippine Army here, five aircraft landed at the Baler Airport in San Luis town around 9:38 a.m. Sunday and left for Clark Airport at about 3:08 p.m. on the same day.
However, only four aircraft managed to land in Clark.
Lt. Harold Donato, OIC, chief of police of San Luis Municipal Police Station, said there was an unverified report of an aircraft that crashed in the mountains of Maria Aurora and San Luis.
“There is an old man who claimed to have seen an aircraft enter into a cloud and suddenly disappeared in the part of the Dialatnan mountain,” Donato said.
Lt. Col. Jose Mari F. Torrenueva II, commander of the 91st Infantry “Sinagtala” Battalion, Philippine Army, said the military started to conduct search and rescue operations on Sunday to look for the missing aircraft.
Torrenueva said Sinagtala troopers went up the mountains and have stayed there since Sunday night.
"But as of today, members of the Philippine National Police, Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office of San Luis and Maria Aurora, Bureau of Fire Protection, local government units as well as volunteers are helping to look for the missing aircraft," he said.
Torrenueva added that a chopper from the Philippine Air Force has arrived here to help look for the missing aircraft.
“We are also using drone,” he said. (PNA)
