By Priam Nepomuceno
MANILA – The Philippine Air Force (PAF) on Friday said the investigation team that will look into the ill-fated FA-50PH fighter jet has reached Mount Kalatungan in Bukidnon province.
A group of rescuers also arrived in the area ahead of the team and retrieved the bodies of the two pilots.
However, PAF spokesperson Col. Ma. Consuelo Castillo, told reporters that they could not get timely updates from the team due to “poor signals.”
She said the investigators trekked for more than six hours to get to the area.
The PAF spokesperson also noted that it took the rescue team five hours of walking downhill to bring down the pilots’ cadavers, which were brought to Cagayan de Oro for forensic examination.
Castillo said the personnel would “check on the pieces of the wreckage” and look into the aircraft’s “point of impact”.
She said tight security is being imposed in the area to avoid compromising the crash site, which is essential to ensuring an accurate investigation.
The PAF has yet to release to the media the exact cause of the mishap, which is the first since the FA-50PH, along with 11 similar aircraft, were acquired from South Korea from 2015 to 2017 at the cost of PHP18.9 billion. (PNA)
