MANILA, Philippines — The mayor of the Albay town home to Mayon where a Cessna 340 plane crashed said Monday that it may take at least three additional days before the bodies of the victims are brought down from the volcano.
Camalig Mayor Carlos Baldo said emergency responders are having a hard time getting the bodies down from the volcano due to its terrain and the weather.
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“If the weather improves, the retrieval may take around three days,” Baldo told ABS-CBN’s TeleRadyo in Filipino. “Our chopper cannot move at night, so operations would continue the next day. But of course, that depends on the situation up there and the weather.”
He said responders hope to reach an area where a Philippine Air Force chopper could retrieve the bodies.
Cedric Daep, chief of the Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office, previously told The STAR newspaper that they were “left with no other option, but to take down the bodies by foot, despite anticipated difficulties.”
“Our responders cannot find an easy way in retrieving the cadavers,” Daep said.
A total of 385 responders were mobilized during the operations. Among the team members who moved to the crash site were:
- Mixed mountaineers (3)
- Naval Special Operations Group (3)
- Philippine Army (7)
- Bureau of Fire Protection - Special Rescue Force (3)
Around 297 personnel under the Philippine National Police were also deployed to render ground security in priority areas.
Passengers Joel Martin, Simon Chipperfield and Karthi Santhanam as well as pilot Capt. Rufino James Crisostomo Jr. were confirmed dead Thursday.
During the incident, the Mayon Volcano was under Alert Level 2, when sudden phreatic explosions, rockfall and lahar could be experienced.
Two Australian nationals were among the four who died. They were reported to be "technical consultants" for renewable energy company Energy Development Corp. — Xave Gregorio with reports from James Relativo, The STAR/Cet Dematera