RP plane crash destroys whole families, futures
RP plane crash destroys whole families, futures
By Jim Gomez
DAVAO, Philippines (AP): Luisa Hall, a college professor, took
Air Philippines flight 541 to southern Davao city with her
Australian husband, Martin, and two daughters to attend her
mother's birthday, a brother's wedding and her youngest child's
baptism. They never made it.
A girlfriend prepared a welcome banner and a party for Jerard
Pingoy, who was on the same plane. Pingoy, a member of a
Philippine martial arts team, was returning home from a
competition in France.
Another passenger waited for a girlfriend whom he had just
convinced to quit her job to marry him.
The Air Philippines Boeing 737-200 jet slammed into a hill on
Samal island near Davao Wednesday in the country's worst air
disaster, wiping out entire families and turning planned Easter
vacations into nightmares.
"The whole family was on that plane," said Patrick Mallari, a
brother of Luisa Hall.
Mallari stood in a drizzle beside a grandstand in a military
camp in Davao where soldiers lined up 23 cadaver bags containing
the mangled remains of crash victims for relatives and forensic
experts to identify.
His sister had planned to join their mother's birthday
celebration on Thursday, hold the baptism of her 3-month-old
daughter on Easter Sunday and attend his wedding April 30,
Mallari said.
"All have been canceled," he said.
After waiting for a day, Mallari left the army camp with his
mother late Wednesday after experts failed to identify his
sister's family among the dead.
Many of the 150 grieving relatives at the grandstand had been
excitedly waiting for the arrival of their loved ones at Davao's
airport just hours earlier and were shocked at the turn of
events.
One woman was called by social workers and handed a gold
wedding ring they recovered from a charred body believed to be
her husband. She examined the ring closely, and seeing her name
engraved on it, shook her head and wept.
Ivy Jill, a 27-year-old nurse, went to the airport to fetch
her longtime boyfriend, Anil Daswani, an Indian working in
Manila. She said she saw the plane circling the airport and then
disappear.
"He asked me what I wanted for a present," Jill said. "I told
him just come home safely."
Airport officials said skies were foggy at the time of the
accident. The plane had been unable to land on its first approach
to Davao because another plane was on the runway, and began to
circle the airport, air traffic controllers said.
It crashed as it prepared to make another approach from the
opposite direction, they said.
Elnora Marciano said her sister, Evelyn de la Fuente, took the
plane with her husband and three of her four children for a
family reunion in their hometown in southern Sultan Kudarat
province.
"She left a son to watch the house," Marciano said.
The plane crash on Samal, a resort island, dampened
expectations among residents of a festive and busy tourist
season.
On Wednesday, a feast was prepared for islanders to celebrate
President Joseph Estrada's 63rd birthday.
Residents instead climbed the hill to the site of the
smoldering wreckage, leaving the food prepared for the feast on
tables in a public hall, Samal Mayor Rogelio Antalan said.
Officials then canceled the festivities and helped retrieve
bodies from the crash site.