MANILA, Philippines (SONNA) — Searchers who hiked the slopes of a restive Philippine volcano to find the wreckage of a plane that crashed over the weekend confirmed the two Australian energy consultants and two Filipino crew members on board didn’t survive, the local mayor said.
More than a dozen army troops and firefighters were dropped off from an air force helicopter Wednesday morning, then they hiked to the crash site on a gully on Mayon volcano’s slope, civil aviation officials said. The Cessna 340 went missing after taking off Saturday.
“There were no survivors,” Mayor Carlos Baldo of Albay province’s Camalig town told The Associated Press in a cellphone message when asked about the fate of the four people onboard the plane. The remains of the crash victims would be brought down the volcano on Thursday, he said.
The two Australians were working as consultants for Energy Development Corp., a large geothermal power company, which owned the plane that was flown by a Filipino pilot with a crew member. The company deployed teams backed by helicopters and drones to help in the search, which was hampered by heavy rains, gusty wind and thick clouds.
Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, who was in Manila on Wednesday for talks with Philippine officials, expressed his condolences to the families of the crash victims before the deaths were confirmed by Baldo later in the day. The mayor oversaw the search for the Cessna aircraft by nearly 200 army troops, firefighters and volunteers, including veteran mountaineers.
“Can I just express my condolences to both Australian and Filipino families of those who died in the very tragic plane accident?” Marles asked Philippine defense chief Carlito Galvez Jr. in a news conference in Manila.
He thanked all those who helped in the search, including two soldiers who were shot and killed by suspected communist guerrillas on Monday while buying supplies in a market in Camalig, military officials said.
“It is a moment where the really personal nature of the relationship between our two countries is very manifest and felt very profoundly,” said Marles, who also serves as Australia’s defense minister.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Thursday reiterated Marles’ words of condolences and thanks.
