2 pilots, 5 others hurt in Lanao del Sur chopper crash

MARAWI CITY, Philippines — Two pilots and five others were hurt when an Air Force helicopter crash landed due to mechanical trouble in Madamba, Lanao del Sur Thursday.

Col. Rex Derilo, police director of Lanao del Sur, said Friday the UH-1D utility helicopter was carrying a lifeless body of a soldier killed in a clash with religious extremists and three others who were hurt in the incident when its engine malfunctioned, causing the accident.

Personnel of the Army’s 55th Infantry Battalion managed to immediately rescue all passengers and the pilots of the helicopter that crashed at Barangay Madamba in Lanao del Sur, a component province of the Bangsamoro region.

Derilo said the cadaver of Private 1st Class Percival Bagbag that the helicopter was to fly into an Army camp outside of the province have also been retrieved from the scene by responding members of the 55th IB.

Derilo said all three wounded companions of Bagbag, who were to be transported to a hospital and the two pilots of the ill-fated helicopter survived the crash.

The injuries the three soldiers wounded in combat sustained from the crash worsened their condition, according to local officials.

The 55th IB figured in a spate of encounters with members of the Dawlah Islamiya in hinterlands in Lanao del Sur early on.