Missing FA-50 jet, cadavers of crew found in Bukidnon mountain range
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 5 March) — The missing FA-50 fighter jet of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) and the two cadavers of its crew have been found in the Kalatungan Mountain Range in Bukidnon Wednesday morning.
Lt. Col. Salvacion Evangelista, spokesperson of the Eastern Mindanao Command, said in a press conference of the Davao Peace and Security Press Corps at Royal Mandaya Hotel here
that the wreckage and the cadavers were found around 9 a.m. in the mountainous Barangay Miarayon of Talakag municipality.
Mt. Kalatungan hosts the country’s fifth highest peak with an elevation of 2,880 meters above sea level.
Although Evangelista said in the earlier part of the press conference, when she had no updates yet on the whereabouts of the pilots, that the latter may have ejected. She later revealed that the cadavers were found near the wreckage, but she could not provide any more details as to the state of the aircraft and the cadavers.
She said Special Forces from the Army’s 6th Infantry Division conducted the search operations in the rugged terrain of Mt. Kalatungan.
The crashed jet was providing air support to troops fighting New People’s Army rebels in Bukidnon when it lost communication dawn on Tuesday, the same time the Philippine Army said they called an air strike to support its troops battling a band of NPA rebels in the Pantaron Mountain Range on Bukidnon’s eastern border with Agusan del Sur. Mt. Kalatungan is on the western side of Bukidnon.
In 2014, the PAF purchased 12 FA-50 fighter jets from South Korea for P18.9 billion. These jets were used in the 2017 Marawi Siege and various operations against the NPA. (Ian Carl Espinosa / MindaNews)
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