By Alexander Lopez

END OF RETRIEVAL OPS. Search and rescue personnel at the site of the Cessna plane crash in Barangay Navarro, Tubajon, Dinagat Islands on Thursday (April 9, 2026). The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office announced on Friday (April 10) that it has ended the search and retrieval operations after the recovery of the remains of the two individuals who perished in the crash. (Photo courtesy of PDRRM-Dinagat Islands)

BUTUAN CITY – Search and rescue teams have recovered the remains of the two individuals in the Cessna aircraft that crashed in Barangay Navarro, Tubajon, Dinagat Islands on April 8.

“Members of the Aircraft Accident Investigation and Inquiry Board of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) also arrived here to conduct an investigation at the crash site,” Dinagat Islands Governor Nilo Demerey Jr. said in a message to the Philippine News Agency on Friday.

Demerey added that Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) personnel were at the Loreto District Hospital to process the recovered remains in preparation for their transfer to their families.

“It’s the CAAP that will officially release the names of the two individuals who perished during the incident,” he said.

He identified the victims only as a 50-year-old pilot and his wife, a 49-year-old architect.

With the recovery of the remains, PDRRMO-Dinagat announced the completion of the search and retrieval operation.

“The representative of the family expressed sincere gratitude to the barangay, municipal, and provincial government units and to all activated national line response agencies with community volunteers for the mission accomplished,” it said. (PNA)