According to the Facebook account of one Paul Elias Bamba, the incident happened on the last day of the annual Hot Air Balloon Fiesta here near the entrance of the parking area in front of the gasoline station.
“Exhibition sila bigla na lang nawalan ng control bumagsak sa mga tao. Buti medyo malayo kami ng konti sa pila (There’s an exhibition then all of a sudden it lost control and crashed into the people. It’s a good thing we were far from the queue),” Bamba said.
The fb posts of Bamba showed a woman lying face down on the ground being attended by another person while onlookers were standing around them.
The other photos showed what looked like the broken rear end of the aircraft and a large group of people surrounding the wreckage.
Sought for more information, the Clark Development Corp. (CDC), which oversees the event, directed this reporter’s queries to Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta (PIHABF) media handler Joey Capit who in turn referred me to PIHABF program director Buddy Lopa.
Lopa confirmed the accident and said the ambulance brought the injured to the hospital. He said the pilot of the RC plane is a Japanese businessman who fully paid for the medical expenses of all four patients.
Lopa said two of the injured suffered only minor bruises while the other two required further treatment in the hospital.
He said what happened was purely an accident since the Japanese controller is a champion radio controlled aerobatic pilot.
Frequency interference
“Right now we are trying to find out exactly what caused it. But initial assessment is that there was a radio frequency interference which caused a glitch in the connection between the pilot’s transmitter and the aircraft,” Lopa explained.
He said the engine shut down so the pilot lost control because he could not fly the plane anymore. “The radio frequency interference was too strong that the pilot could not reestablished control with the plane that’s why the engine shut off,” he added.
Meanwhile, Lopa said the last time he talked to the pilot he informed him that he has spoken to the families of the victims and that all of them agreed to a settlement.
