MANILA: Rescuers are searching for survivors after a small plane carrying four people crashed in the central Philippines on Sunday, an aviation official said.
The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) said in a statement that the Cessna 340 disappeared shortly after taking off from Bicol International Airport, south of the capital, on Saturday morning bound for Manila.
The aviation regulator added that the plane was carrying two passengers, a pilot and a crew.
CAAP spokesman Eric Apollonio said local search and rescue teams had identified a possible crash site near the airport. AFP.
“The problem is bad weather, it hampers visibility for ground searches,” he added.
The aviation accident occurred less than a month after another Cessna plane went missing in the northern province of Isabela on Jan. 24.
The search for the wreckage is still ongoing, Apollonio said.
At least 68 people were killed in Nepal’s worst air crash in 30 years.
In a separate incident, two Philippine Air Force pilots were also killed during a training exercise last month when their SF260 Marchetti plane crashed into a rice field in Bataan province near Manila.