Missing Cessna plane located in Apayao; search ongoing for passengers

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — Authorities found Wednesday afternoon the Cessna 152 single engine plane that went missing on Tuesday.

The Apayao Disaster Risk Management Office identified the two passengers on board the plane, namely Capt. Edzel John Lumbao Tabuzo from San Juan City and student pilot Anshum Rajkumar Konde, an Indian national. 

The crash site was situated on the boundary between Barangay Salvacion in Luna and San Mariano Pudtol town.

Although the crash site has been located, there is no report yet on the status of the passengers' discovery.

Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines spokesperson Eric Apolonio advised the public to wait for official report from the CAAP-Philippine Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Center.

The two-seater plane, identified by body number RP-C8598, departed from Laoag City Airport in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte, around 12:16 p.m. on Tuesday. Its intended destination was Tuguegarao City, Cagayan.

The Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) Region II previously reported that two aircraft took off from Laoag City, but only one successfully reached Tuguegarao City at 1:11 p.m. on Tuesday.

The airplane was last detected 32 nautical miles from Alcala town, Cagayan, before losing contact. This led to an extensive search and rescue operation, which culminated on Wednesday afternoon when the wreckage of the plane was located between Luna and Pudtol towns.

Earlier, a concerned citizen from Sanchez Mira town captured a video showing a plane in distress above Pamplona town. The video was shared on the social media page of the Cagayan Provincial Information Office.

On March 9, 2023, the wreckage of a Cessna 206 plane, which had gone missing on January 24, was discovered in the Sierra Madre mountains of Isabela province. The ill-fated flight had taken off from Cauayan Airport in Isabela and was scheduled to land at Maconacon, Isabela. All six passengers on board were found dead.