Plane Crashed in Mexico Town Philippines Three Presumed Dead

A cargo aircraft crashed into rice paddies in the town of Mexico, Pampanga in the Philippines. The aircraft was presumed to be carrying six passengers on a flight from Cebu City in southern Philippines on its way to the former US Clark Airbase in Central Philippines.

The incident happened at around 9:00 p.m. Wednesday. The last contact of the tower with the aircraft was at 8:48 p.m. before it lost signal. Investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the crash. At least three passengers were presumed dead while three others were seen parachuting near the crash site in Mexico town.

The survivors were confirmed to be Russians. No residents were hurt or killed because the crash happened away from houses, Mayor Teddy Tumang of Mexico town said. An emergency van arrived at around 10:30 p.m. to reportedly take them to a hospital. Tumang helped bring the survivors to the Makabali Hospital in San Fernando.

Inq7 reports:

The survivors told village leaders that three of their companions who were still in the burning plane might be dead. It was still in flames as of Wednesday night. Fire trucks had a difficult time entering the area. The Pacific East Air Cargo (PEAC) chartered the plane for the operations of the international cargo forwarding firm UPS, a report from the state-owned Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) said.

No names of casualties and survivors were release as investigations are continuing.

(original article appeared @ Digital Journal )