PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan – Personnel of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in Palawan province on Thursday found debris believed to be from a chopper that went missing on Wednesday in Balabac town.
PCG-Palawan District commander, Capt. Dennis Labay, said in a telephone interview that his men found debris at sea near Lumbucan Island in Balabac.
He said the PCG personnel were deployed on a search and rescue (SAR) mission around 5 a.m. on board BRP Malabrigo, a Multi-Role Response Vessel (MRRV)-4402, for the ill-fated “Yellow Bee” chopper belonging to the Philippine Adventist Mission Aviation Services (PAMAS).
“They (crew) found debris, although not part of the chopper, but I think it is part of a fire extinguisher commonly used in aircraft,” Labay said.
“So far that’s the only thing that was found by MRRV 4402 and hopefully, we will be able to find survivors.”
As of this writing, four PCG vessels are involved in the SAR operations, along with units from the police and military forces in the province.
Armed Forces of the Philippines' Western Command (WESCOM) spokesperson, Commander Ariel Coloma, said in a text message that two Philippine Navy (PN) gunboats -- PC-375 and PC-395 -- were also deployed to “scour the possible area where the chopper may have crashed.”
Another PN vessel from Naval Forces West, the BRP Jose Rizal (FF-150), was also deployed in the area.
The Philippine Air Force, on the other hand, dispatched a Sokol helicopter under the Tactical Operations Wing-West to augment the SAR operations.
“We also diverted our navy frigate from Tawi-Tawi to the area to widen the search range,” Coloma added.
Meanwhile, Labay said search operatives have now scoured more or less 10 nautical miles of waters from the last known position of the chopper since it went missing.
“Condition of the sea right now is a bit rough because of northeasterly wind,” he said.
Labay added that their efforts will still concentrate on search and rescue for the next three to five days.
"The first three to five days shall be crucial, after which, without any evidence of a debris or survivor, we will lessen our efforts and shift to search and retrieval,” he said.
He said the initial search operations on Wednesday only used small watercraft and speedboats and were suspended upon sundown, and resumed Thursday with the arrival of the MRRV 4402 and other vessels.
The missing chopper went to Mangsee island in Balabac to pick up a patient. It took off from the island at around 9 a.m. and was on the way back to Brooke's Point when it disappeared from contact at 12:10 past noon, approximately 35 nautical miles east of mainland Balabac, within the vicinity of Lombocan Island.
Aboard the chopper were its pilot, Capt. Daniel Lui, Nurse Janelle Adler, Kayrun Nesa Sahibad (patient), and his relatives Nastru Sahibad and Sug Hamja.
The patient was about to be brought to the Southern Palawan Provincial Hospital in Brooke's Point when the chopper went missing. (Gerald Ticke/PNA)
