PH Air Force pilots’ bodies recovered from crash site on Bukidnon’s Mount Kalatungan

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The crash site is near the peak of the 2,880‑meter Mount Kalatungan, facing nearby Mount Kitanglad in Bukidnon

CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines – High on the slopes of Bukidnon’s Mount Kalatungan, a group of soldiers, volunteers, and forest guards, mounted the difficult mission to recover and bring down the bodies of the two pilots of an ill-fated Philippine Air Force (PAF) jet to Cagayan de Oro City late Wednesday night, March 5.

The downed F‑50 fighter jet had lost contact with another aircraft 40 nautical miles from its target after taking off from the Benito Ebuen Air Base in Mactan, Cebu on Tuesday, March 4.

Colonel Antonio Duluan Jr., commander of the Army’s 403rd Infantry Brigade, said the cadavers of the pilots, carried in black body bags, reached the highway in Barangay Miarayon in Talakag town, Bukidnon at around 10 pm and were brought to a mortuary in Cagayan de Oro shortly before midnight Wednesday.

FLY OVER. A Philippine Air Force FA-50 fighter jet flies over Davao City during the Araw ng Dabaw celebration, on March 16, 2017.

“In bringing down the remains, the soldiers and volunteers braved the muddy trails and bad weather,” Duluan said.

The Community Affairs and Development Office of the Philippine National Police in Northern Mindanao identified the pilots as Major Jude Salang-oy and 1st Lieutenant AJ Dadulla.

Dadulla, incidentally, was from the village of Alae in Manolo Fortice town, Bukidnon, the same province where he died.

Lieutenant Colonel Salvacion Evangelista, spokesperson of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Eastern Mindanao Command, said the crash site was located with the help of a search team in the rural farming village of Miarayon in Talakag hours earlier.

The crash site is near the peak of the 2,880‑meter Mount Kalatungan, facing nearby Mount Kitanglad, according to Duluan.

“The soldiers of the 1st Special Forces Battalion reported that the fuselage remains intact but without its wings,” he said.

Duluan said the jet slid down the mountainside after its crash, leaving behind charred remains that soldiers later recovered near the fuselage.

He said soldiers also found one of the two 500‑pound bombs that the ill‑fated aircraft carried for tactical operations.

“We had to detonate the bomb on site and continue looking for the other bomb,” Duluan said.

Major General Michele Anayron, commander of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division, said an air strike was requested to support troops battling a band of 70 New People’s Army rebels near Calabugao town in Bukidnon on Monday.

Nilo Onduran, the barangay chairman of San Miguel in Talakag town, said residents were roused from their sleep by a loud explosion and a huge ball of fire on top of Mount Kalatungan. – Rappler.com