SEARCH AND RESCUE. Lt. Col. Jose Mari F. Torrenueva II, commander of the 91st Infantry Battalion, Philippine Army (right), discusses with Tito Dizon (center), father of student pilot Aaron Dizon, the search and rescue operations for the younger Dizon and the Cessna C-152 aircraft in Aurora province. Both the plane and the pilot are missing since Sunday. (Photo by Jason de Asis)
MARIA AURORA, Aurora - Authorities in this province are exerting all efforts in the conduct of search and rescue operations for a Cessna C-152 aircraft with 25-year-old student pilot Aaron Dizon that have been missing since Sunday, July 28.
Lt. Col. Jose Mari F. Torrenueva II, commander of the 91st Infantry “Sinagtala” Battalion (91IB), Philippine Army, said they will not stop in their operations, together with other rescuers.
“The government rescue team and volunteers are still searching for the missing aircraft and the student pilot in different routes since Sunday and they are still nowhere to be found,” Torrenueva said.
The missing Cessna C-152 aircraft, owned by Omni Aviation Corporation, is one of the five aircraft that 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.
“We immediately mobilized one squad search and rescue team composed of 10 members and urgently deployed at the last location monitored in the vicinity of Barangay Suguit, Dialatnan in the town of Maria Aurora and Barangay Diteki in the town of San Luis upon receiving report of the missing aircraft and the student pilot last Sunday,” Torrenueva said.
Last Monday, he said the search and rescue team continued their operation, together with the Philippine Air Force (PAF) under Lt. Col. Susan Rodolfo and her pilot Alex Pastrano who conducted aerial reconnaissance in the vicinity of Sierra Madre Mountains where the last location of the aircraft was recorded.
“Last Tuesday, four teams were dispatched and searched for the possible location and still negative in the target coordinates,” Torrenueva said.
He also said that other volunteers arrived from Manila Wednesday morning, including the group of the Wilderness Search and Rescue Philippines Inc., a volunteer rescue and humanitarian organization, to help in the search and rescue operations.
“The search and rescue teams were deployed in the adjacent places of Mount Aling Aling with local guides from Villa Aurora while the PAF continued aerial reconnaissance along the Sierra Madre mountains,” Torrenueva added.
Meanwhile, Dizon's father, Tito, has been staying at the 91IB's tactical command post set up in Sitio Dimani, Barangay Villa Aurora, Maria Aurora town to wait for developments in the search and rescue operations.
“We are running out of time. Please help me. We need to find my son immediately,” he told Torrenueva in their meeting on Wednesday. (PNA)
