Philippine Military Plane Crashes, Killing Dozens

MANILA—A Philippine air power C-130 plane carrying beat troops assigned to fight Muslim militants crashed and exploded though landing in the south Sunday, killing at minimum 42 army soldiers on board and a few civilians on the ground in one particular of the worst disasters in the air force’s record.

At minimum forty nine other soldiers had been rescued with injuries and survived the fiery noontime crash into a coconut grove exterior the Jolo airport in Sulu province, like some who managed to leap off the plane in advance of it exploded and was gutted by fireplace, armed service officials stated. Three of seven villagers who had been hit on the ground died.

The plane had ninety six people today on board, like a few pilots and five crew though the relaxation had been army staff, the armed service stated, including that five soldiers remained unaccounted for late Sunday. The pilots survived but had been very seriously wounded, officials stated.

The Lockheed C-130 Hercules was one particular of two ex-U.S. Air Drive plane handed more than to the Philippines as component of armed service aid this year.

The plane at first took off from Manila with only a couple of passengers, like a two-star army normal, Romeo Brawner Jr., who disembarked with his spouse and a few kids in Cagayan de Oro city, where by he is set to become the new armed service regional commander on Monday. The army troops then boarded the C-130 in Cagayan de Oro for the flight to Sulu.