Philippine Military Plane Crashes, Killing Dozens

MANILA—A Philippine air pressure C-130 plane carrying battle troops assigned to struggle Muslim militants crashed and exploded whilst landing in the south Sunday, killing at least 42 army soldiers on board and three civilians on the floor in a single of the worst disasters in the air force’s history.

At least forty nine other soldiers were being rescued with injuries and survived the fiery noontime crash into a coconut grove outside the house the Jolo airport in Sulu province, which includes some who managed to soar off the plane in advance of it exploded and was gutted by fireplace, army officers mentioned. Three of 7 villagers who were being strike on the floor died.

The plane had 96 folks on board, which includes three pilots and 5 crew whilst the rest were being army staff, the army mentioned, including that 5 soldiers remained unaccounted for late Sunday. The pilots survived but were being significantly hurt, officers mentioned.

The Lockheed C-130 Hercules was a single of two ex-U.S. Air Drive plane handed around to the Philippines as portion of army guidance this yr.

The plane originally took off from Manila with only a couple passengers, which includes a two-star army typical, Romeo Brawner Jr., who disembarked with his wife and three young children in Cagayan de Oro metropolis, in which he is established to come to be the new army regional commander on Monday. The army troops then boarded the C-130 in Cagayan de Oro for the flight to Sulu.