A small plane carrying four people went missing on Saturday, February 18, 2023 after taking off southeast of the Philippines capital. The Cessna 340 left Albay province for Manila with a pilot, a crew member and two Australian passengers, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines said.
A military helicopter has sighted the wreckage less than 2km from the crater of Mount Mayon, a 2,460m cone-shaped volcano located in Albay province approximately 300km south-east of Manila on the island of Luzon. The aircraft went down three minutes after take-off for Manila from the Bicol International Airport in Daraga town.
In a statement Caloy Baldo, Mayor of Camalig has confirmed the information, saying that the wreckage pf the plane was found 32 hours after its disappearance However, he said that the pilot, crew member and two passengers are yet to be found.
“The search and rescue operations continue,” he added.
“The authorities are presently investigating the crash site to map out factors that led to the incident.
In a similar accident, a single-engine Cessna plane had gone missing with six people on January 24, 2023 in northern Isabela. The plane remains missing till date. A search for the plane was continuing on and off depending on the weather in a remote mountainous hinterland in Isabela, officials said.