Crash site of missing Philippine jet found

Fate of 104 on board uncertain

February 3, 1998
Web posted at: 3:45 a.m. EDT (0345 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 in a remote, sparsely populated area near its destination but there are conflicting reports as to whether anyone survived the crash.

The owners of the Philippine DC-9 plane said on Tuesday their earlier statement that 15 people had survived what appears to be the country's worst air crash might not be true.

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 original destination for the Cebu Pacific Air plane.

"There are conflicting reports coming in right now...the earlier confirmation of 15 survivors might not be true," Cebu Pacific Air spokesman Larry Zurita said. "The new reports state for us to disregard the initial report," Zurita said, quoting research and rescue officials in the southern Philippines.

An airport controller at Cagayan de Oro quoted one helicopter search team, which flew over the crash site, as saying the plane "apparently disintegrated on impact."

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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