Rescuers sift through burned wreckage of Philippine plane
Rescuers sift through burned wreckage of Philippine plane
SAMAL, Philippines (AFP): Rescuers and investigators sifted through the burned wreckage of an Air Philippines Boeing jet on Wednesday evening in search of clues on the cause of a fiery crash which left 131 people dead in the country's worst air disaster.
The 22 year-old aircraft plowed into a coconut grove and burst into flames in this southern island during a landing attempt at nearby Davao airport on Wednesday morning, killing all the seven crewmen and 124 passengers on board. The dead included at least one Australian man.
Most of the passengers were flying to Davao, a popular tourist area, for the Easter holidays.
Aviation officials working under intermittent rain retrieved the cockpit voice recorder and said the weather could have been a "contributory factor" in the crash.
They had yet to retrieve the flight data recorder from the burning tail section.
As night fell, military units set up emergency power generators to allow them to comb through the debris during the night.
"Search operations will continue overnight," Navy Col. Renato Runas told AFP.
Officials said there were no survivors on the domestic flight from Manila.
Transportation Undersecretary Jacinto Ortega told a news conference that "there was no mention of any mechanical problems" by the crew in their last radio transmissions, and added that probers have no evidence that a rudder problem that has troubled similar Boeing 737-200 aircraft elsewhere was a factor.
He said the weather was clear while the domestic flight 541 from Manila made a landing approach in Davao, but that there were low-lying clouds which could have contributed to the accident.
The Boeing jet aborted its first landing attempt while waiting for a Philippine Airlines Airbus to clear the Davao runway, but Ortega said the procedure was normal and added: "I don't think it's connected" to the accident.
"We are very sure that the flight data recorder will be recovered," he said, adding that both would be sent to either the US National Transportation Safety Board or its Australian counterpart for analysis.
Ortega said the plane's nose and fuselage had "totally disintegrated and only the tail was left intact."
Sammy Badilles, a village official among the first to the scene, said he saw the plane belching smoke near its tail moments before it dovetailed near the island's northern tip.
"After that, I heard a loud burst in mid-air, then I saw the plane descending unsteadily," he said. "When it hit the ground, there was a louder explosion."
"It was a total wreck," Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado told reporters at the crash site.
"Seeing the wreckage, it is impossible to think that anyone survived because the plane was torn to pieces," he said.
By evening, rescuers had filled 85 green, black and red plastic bags with human remains. Some bags contained body parts from different persons.
Air Philippines earlier said the aircraft was delivered to its first owners in 1978 and acquired by Air Philippines in 1996. A Boeing spokesman told CNN television the Boeing 737-200 series was initially produced in 1968.
It was "not at all" unusual for a 22-year-old aircraft to be still in operation, he said.
The plane "can be operated essentially indefinitely. You do have to increase the maintenance requirements."
The spokesman said he was unaware of any problems involving similar Boeing aircraft in recent years that may hint at the cause of the crash.
The crash was the worst air disaster in the Philippines, coming two years after a Cebu Pacific Air DC-109 slammed into a southern Philippines mountain in February 1998, killing all 104 passengers and crew on board.
It was the second transport disaster to hit the Philippines in a week after an overloaded ferry capsized off the southern island of Jolo, claiming at least 143 lives.
"I am saddened by the news," President Joseph Estrada said in a radio message. "Let us pray for all the victims."
Pope John Paul II also offered a message of condolence from the Vatican.
The Pope said he was "deeply saddened by the tragic loss of lives and is praying for the victims asking God to give those who weep their loved ones courage and force," in a message to Davao Archbishop Fernando Capalla.