GROUND OPS LAUNCHED TO LOCATE MISSING PLANE IN ISABELA FOREST

CAUAYAN CITY—Armed with their radios, hiking gear and rescue equipment, ground search teams on Saturday embarked on a four-hour walk to the Sierra Madre mountain range to reach the thickly forested area of the village of Dicaruyan in Divilacan town, Isabela province, where the Cessna plane missing since Jan. 24 was believed to have crashed with six persons on board.

In a news briefing early on Saturday, lawyer Constante Foronda, head of the Isabela provincial disaster risk reduction management office (DRRMO), said the ground search was decided after the two military helicopters used for the aerial search were unable to pinpoint the possible crash site due to the thick and hazy clouds and unpredictable weather.

Foronda said their “primary concern” was to “immediately reach the area” and “provide aided comfort to the survivors, if there is any, fast.”

The 105-member aerial and ground search and rescue teams involved soldiers from the Army’s 5th Infantry Division, municipal disaster risk reduction management office personnel of Maconacon and Divilacan towns, policemen from the 1st provincial mobile force company and San Mariano town and two helicopters from the Tactical Operations Group 2 of the Philippine Air Force.

“We do not know if there are injuries and fractures [on the survivors] until we actually see them so we should see to it that their trauma is lessened. We are still positive [that there are survivors],” he added.

Alpha site

Before leaving for the trek at noon, Exequiel Chavez, Divilacan DRRMO head, said they would try to reach the “Alpha site” or the priority site of the search sometime around 4 p.m. on Saturday, or even earlier, depending on the terrain and the prevailing weather.

“Once we reach the area, we would send the information to the standby police and soldiers to help in extracting the survivors even at nighttime,” Chavez said.

A long-range drone was still being used by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in the area but hazy clouds and unpredictable weather also hindered their succeeding air flights.

Earlier, Foronda said a farmer saw the plane, which matched the description of the missing six-seat Gen AV Cessna 206, swirled toward the Sierra Madre mountain range.

The RP-C1174 Cessna took off from Cauayan Airport at 2:16 p.m. on Jan. 24 and was to arrive at the Maconacon Airport at 3 p.m. that day but it never reached its destination.

On board the aircraft were Capt. Eleazar Mark Joven, the pilot; and passengers Val Kamatoy, 34; Kamatoy’s nephews Rom Josthle Manaday, 15, and siblings Mark Eiron Siguerra, 20, and Xam Siguerra, 10; and Josefa Perla España (age unknown).

Anna May Kamatoy, mother of the Siguerra siblings, told the Inquirer by phone on Friday that Mark even managed to have a live Facebook post prior to the plane’s disappearance.

Kamatoy said Mark also sent a message that the pilot informed them that they would be going back to Cauayan City because the bad weather was preventing them from reaching the Maconacon Airport.

She said she was surprised when she was told the plane went missing because her son’s live post showed that good weather was then still prevailing as the plane was flying over Naguilian town, also in Isabela.