At least 45 people were killed and 49 were injured Sunday when a military C-130 aircraft carrying troops crashed and burst into flames after missing the runway in Jolo in Sulu province on Sunday, officials said.
Three civilians on the ground also died, while four others were injured as the cargo aircraft crashed.
Nearly 100 people, most of them recent army graduates, were on board the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft when it tried to land in Dan Putih, Patikul, Sulu, at about 11:20 a.m.
Some of the soldiers were seen jumping out of the plane before it hit the ground and exploded into flames, said Major General William Gonzales, commander of the Joint Task Force-Sulu.
It was one of the country's deadliest military aviation accidents.
"This is a sad day, but we have to remain hopeful," Gonzales said in a statement.
"We enjoin the nation to pray for those who are injured and those who have perished in this tragedy."
A search was still under way for 17 missing people.
“We are deeply saddened by the C-130 mishap in Sulu,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a statement. “Rescue efforts are ongoing, and we are one in praying for the safe recovery of the passengers.”
He urged the public to wait for further updates on the “unfortunate” incident.
Days earlier, Roque himself had ridden the same plane, which brought COVID-19 vaccines, ventilators, personal protective equipment, and high flow cannulas to Iloilo City on Thursday, the spokesman said in a Twitter post. He added a photo of himself standing on the tarmac with the C130 in the background.
The C-130 was one of two transport aircraft that were turned over by the US government through the Joint US Military Assistance Group (JUSMAG) to the Defense Department and the Philippine Air Force on Feb. 19.
The aircraft first flew in 1988 and had been used by the US until it was stored in 2016 and sold to the Philippines in January 2021, according to a website that tracks C-130s.
The aircraft was turned over as a grant worth P1.54 billion ($32.2 million) to the PAF through the Foreign Military Financing grant program.
It was meant to strengthen the Philippine military’s logistical capacity for military and civil support operations, including humanitarian assistance and disaster relief and distribution of COVID-19 supplies.
The Department of National Defense (DND) earlier received the plane in a welcome ceremony on January 29 at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City.
An official statement from the DND on January 30, 2021, said the C130 plane with tail number 5125 was the first of two planes “granted by the US government through Security Cooperation Assistance.”
Before this, the air force only had one operational C130 out of the four in its fleet, Senator Panfilo Lacson revealed in a hearing last November.
The lawmaker also revealed the PAF intends to buy five brand new C-130J Super Hercules, the newest model of Lockheed Martin's C-130 aircraft.
Photos of the crash site released by the Joint Task Force-Sulu showed the damaged tail and the smoking wreckage of the fuselage's back section lying near coconut trees.
Photos taken by local media outlet Pondohan TV and posted on their Facebook page showed the wrecked body of the plane engulfed in flames.
A plume of thick black smoke rose above houses located near the crash site.
Armed Forces Chief Gen. Cirilito Sobejana said the aircraft had been carrying troops from Cagayan de Oro on the southern island of Mindanao when it "missed the runway" as it tried to land on Jolo.
The plane tried to "regain power but didn't make it," he said, describing the accident as "very unfortunate.”
"Responders are at the site now, we are praying we can save more lives," Sobejana said.
Sobejana said the 40 rescued from the wreckage were being treated at the nearby 11th Infantry Division hospital.
Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Maynard Mariano said the cause of the crash would be investigated.
"We are on rescue mode right now," Mariano said.
It was being treated as an accident rather than an attack, Armed Forces spokesman Maj Gen. Edgard Arevalo told radio dzBB.
The four-engine plane crashed near a quarry in a lightly populated area, 1st Lt. Jerrica Angela Manongdo told the Agence France-Presse, adding the rescue operation had finished.
Initial reports said the aircraft overshot the landing strip and broke into two, Western Mindanao Command Chief Lt. Gen. Corleto Vinluan said.
Most of the passengers had recently graduated from basic military training and were being deployed to the restive island as part of a joint task force fighting terrorism in the Muslim-majority region.
The military has a heavy presence in Mindanao where militant groups, including the kidnap-for-ransom outfit Abu Sayyaf, operate.
C-130 aircraft, the work horses of the air force, are used to transport troops and supplies. They are also often deployed to deliver humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
The mishap was one of the country's deadliest military aviation accidents.
Senator Richard Gordon said it was the fourth this year with "mass casualties.”
"Are we buying defective crafts with the people's money?" he tweeted.
Sunday's accident comes after a Black Hawk helicopter crashed last month during a night-time training flight, killing all six on board.
Three pilots and three airmen died when their S70-i went down near the Crow Valley training range north of Manila, prompting the grounding of the entire fleet.
The country ordered 16 of the multi-role aircraft from a Polish firm that made them under license from the Sikorsky division of US defense manufacturer Lockheed Martin.
Eleven have been delivered since late 2020.
An official of the US Embassy in Manila said it would send medical aid to survivors of the crash.
At the time of the turnover, the US embassy said the C-130 Hercules is capable of a maximum payload of 19,000 kilograms, with a flying range of over 1,900 kilometers.
The 220 Airlift Wing at the Philippine Air Force Brigadier General Benito N. Ebuen Air Base in Cebu owns and operates the aircraft.
Muntinlupa City Rep. Ruffy Biazon mourned the loss of military personnel in the Patikul, Sulu, crash.
He said the crash was a “major blow” to the capability and morale of the AFP, coming less than two weeks after a newly acquired Black Hawk helicopter went down, killing six officers and crew.
“With this latest incident, it becomes twice as urgent to determine the causes of these crashes whether human error, equipment failure, or weather disturbance is to blame. Being newly-acquired assets, should equipment failure be determined as the cause, it will bring to fore questions on the quality of the assets acquired or the maintenance capability of the unit involved,” he said.
He said should it be determined that crew error is the cause, the training and readiness of personnel may have to be reviewed. With AFP