Crash site of missing Philippine jet found

104 on board; 15 survivors reported

February 2, 1998
Web posted at: 11:05 p.m. EST (0405 GMT)

CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines (CNN) -- The wreckage of a passenger jet that failed to arrive at a southern Philippines airport Monday has been found -- along with 15 survivors -- in a remote, sparsely populated region.

A radio station quoted a local mayor as saying the crash site had been located on Mount Sumagaya, about 28 miles (45 km) northeast of Cagayan de Oro, the 's original destination for the Cebu Pacific Air plane. Rescue teams are trying to transfer the survivors to nearby hospitals.

Joy Maghanoy, a radio operator at the regional police headquarters, told Reuters she had received a radio message from police in Claveria, a town near the crash site, saying at least 30 bodies had been found. The airline spokesman would not confirm that report.

The plane was carrying 99 passengers and five crew members.

The Cebu Pacific Air DC-9 was en route from Manila to Cagayan de Oro, about 490 miles (780 km) south of the capital, when it failed to arrived as scheduled Monday morning. The Philippine Air Force launched an aerial search, but bad weather forced the search to be suspended Monday.

Local police and army search and rescue units were conducting a ground search.

The plane's last radio contact was with the Cagayan de Oro airport tower about 12 minutes before its scheduled landing.

In that radio call, the pilot said he was at an altitude of 11,500 feet (3,500 meters) and starting to descend.

"There was no inkling that the plane was in trouble," airline spokesman Larry Zorita said of the conversation.

Air transport officials said the plane's path from that point to the airport would have taken it over a mountainous area with peaks ranging from 7,300 feet (2,200 meters) to 8,000 feet (2,400 meters).

"It's a mountainous area. If the base of the clouds is too low, it's hard for the pilot to see the tip of the mountains," said Bong Meneses, an air transport official.

He said weather at the airport was clear at the time, "but we're not sure how it was in the mountains."

Journalist Cecilia Lazaro, and Reuters contributed to this report.

Related sites:

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• Cagayan De Oro
• The Boeing Company
  • McDonnel-Douglas DC-9

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