MEXICO, Pampanga – Three Eastern European nationals survived while three others, also foreigners, were killed when their Russian-made Antonov cargo plane crash landed and split in half by an explosion on a grassy land in Sitio Almendras in Barangay Laput in this town at about 8:50 p.m. last Wednesday.
Local police chief Superintendent Ferdinand Perez identified the survivors as pilot Yuri Tochony, 50, from Russia, his co-pilot Dmitry Struminsky, 39, of Uzbekistan, and flight crew Bokhadir Ruziev, 44, also of Uzbekistan.
Tochony, who spoke little English, told Punto that he and his companions survived by jumping off from the window of the aircraft’s cockpit as soon as their plan stabilized after the initial impact on the ground and before an explosion. The survivors sustained only a few scratches on their skins.
The police named the fatalities as ground engineers Mikolay Bannon and Vadim Yakimov, both Russians, and another flight crew member, Bulgarian national Tzavitoslav Guetchevski. Their bodies were found burned in the front half of the aircraft.
Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) president Victor Jose Luciano said the Russian aircraft was chartered by the Pacific East Asia Cargo Co. (PESC) whom he identified as a sister company of Philippine Air Lines. He said PESC is an investor at Clark Freeport.
“The aircraft used to shuttle between Clark and Cebu to transport parcels for the UPS (United Parcels Service) based at Clark, since UPA aircraft can’t fly to other parts of the country to pick up or deliver parcels,” Luciano said.
The plane was split in half, the front part burned and the tail area not affected by fire. Its landing wheels and burned left wing were also found detached from the aircraft.
Luciano and CIAC executive vice president Alex Cauguiran cited reports from officials stationed at the tower of the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) at Clark indicating that the Antonov plane was preparing to approach the Clark airport when it vanished from the radar monitor at about 8:50 p.m. Wednesday.
“Thirty minutes after loss of contact, an alarm was sounded off,” he said.
Tochony and the other two survivors were reached by Punto at the office of the Mexico police chief at about 9 a.m. yesterday, but they all refused to be interviewed and photographed by media. Tochony, however, later answered a few questions.
Tochony had a very slight scratch on the left side of his upper forehead, while his co-pilot Struminsky merely had a band-aid strip on the left side of his chin. The third survivor Ruziev seemed to have suffered the worst, as indicated by a gauze pad behind his left ear.
“There was impact. Much smoke,” Tochony said when asked to describe what happened. Pointing to a sketch of the aircraft by the police chief, he demonstrated that he and the other survivors escaped by opening the cockpit windows, and jumping to the ground from there.
He also said that only one of them was in the cargo cabin in the middle of the aircraft at the time of the crash, while he and the others were in the cockpit area in front.
Tonchny shook his head to say “no” when asked whether his aircraft hit a post or tree that led to the accident.
Asked whether local folk helped them out of the aircraft, Tochony said he and his companions ran to safety by themselves as people who were already in the area seemed afraid to get near their already burning plane.
A report prepared by Perez quoted Tochony as saying that “the cargo plane encountered electric circuit and afterwards fire broke out in the cargo cabin”. This, the report said, prompted the pilot to make a forced landing.
Tochony said all their passports and other personal belongings were burned in the aircraft. The survivors were all wearing civilian clothes.
Witness Alvina Mercado, 45, said that she and her family’s attention were first caught by a “chugging” sound from the air followed by another sound that seems to be dragging on the ground.
“The plane’s wheel flew off when it hit a dike, then the left wing hit some trees, causing the plane to swerve to the left,” she said.
Another witness Shirley Balajadia, 60, who was watching a local campaign program at a nearby basketball court, said that a few seconds after the plane crash landed, an explosion followed. “The explosion shook the ground,” she said.
Perez said that the survivors were brought to the barangay hall and, after a doctor found them to be in good health, were billeted by a local official at the Sogo hotel in nearby San Fernando for overnight stay. Yesterday morning, they were brought by the police to their station here to answer more inquiries.
Luciano said that CIAC’s Operation Command Center personnel were among the first to rush to the crash site which firetrucks from San Fernando and other towns found difficult to access due to narrow roads.
He said officials from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) were still conducting an investigation of the crash as of yesterday noon.
The plane apparently had delivered UPS cargo to Cebu and was on its way back to Clark without much cargo when the accident happened.
Local police chief Superintendent Ferdinand Perez identified the survivors as pilot Yuri Tochony, 50, from Russia, his co-pilot Dmitry Struminsky, 39, of Uzbekistan, and flight crew Bokhadir Ruziev, 44, also of Uzbekistan.
Tochony, who spoke little English, told Punto that he and his companions survived by jumping off from the window of the aircraft’s cockpit as soon as their plan stabilized after the initial impact on the ground and before an explosion. The survivors sustained only a few scratches on their skins.
The police named the fatalities as ground engineers Mikolay Bannon and Vadim Yakimov, both Russians, and another flight crew member, Bulgarian national Tzavitoslav Guetchevski. Their bodies were found burned in the front half of the aircraft.
Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) president Victor Jose Luciano said the Russian aircraft was chartered by the Pacific East Asia Cargo Co. (PESC) whom he identified as a sister company of Philippine Air Lines. He said PESC is an investor at Clark Freeport.
“The aircraft used to shuttle between Clark and Cebu to transport parcels for the UPS (United Parcels Service) based at Clark, since UPA aircraft can’t fly to other parts of the country to pick up or deliver parcels,” Luciano said.
The plane was split in half, the front part burned and the tail area not affected by fire. Its landing wheels and burned left wing were also found detached from the aircraft.
Luciano and CIAC executive vice president Alex Cauguiran cited reports from officials stationed at the tower of the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) at Clark indicating that the Antonov plane was preparing to approach the Clark airport when it vanished from the radar monitor at about 8:50 p.m. Wednesday.
“Thirty minutes after loss of contact, an alarm was sounded off,” he said.
Tochony and the other two survivors were reached by Punto at the office of the Mexico police chief at about 9 a.m. yesterday, but they all refused to be interviewed and photographed by media. Tochony, however, later answered a few questions.
Tochony had a very slight scratch on the left side of his upper forehead, while his co-pilot Struminsky merely had a band-aid strip on the left side of his chin. The third survivor Ruziev seemed to have suffered the worst, as indicated by a gauze pad behind his left ear.
“There was impact. Much smoke,” Tochony said when asked to describe what happened. Pointing to a sketch of the aircraft by the police chief, he demonstrated that he and the other survivors escaped by opening the cockpit windows, and jumping to the ground from there.
He also said that only one of them was in the cargo cabin in the middle of the aircraft at the time of the crash, while he and the others were in the cockpit area in front.
Tonchny shook his head to say “no” when asked whether his aircraft hit a post or tree that led to the accident.
Asked whether local folk helped them out of the aircraft, Tochony said he and his companions ran to safety by themselves as people who were already in the area seemed afraid to get near their already burning plane.
A report prepared by Perez quoted Tochony as saying that “the cargo plane encountered electric circuit and afterwards fire broke out in the cargo cabin”. This, the report said, prompted the pilot to make a forced landing.
Tochony said all their passports and other personal belongings were burned in the aircraft. The survivors were all wearing civilian clothes.
Witness Alvina Mercado, 45, said that she and her family’s attention were first caught by a “chugging” sound from the air followed by another sound that seems to be dragging on the ground.
“The plane’s wheel flew off when it hit a dike, then the left wing hit some trees, causing the plane to swerve to the left,” she said.
Another witness Shirley Balajadia, 60, who was watching a local campaign program at a nearby basketball court, said that a few seconds after the plane crash landed, an explosion followed. “The explosion shook the ground,” she said.
Perez said that the survivors were brought to the barangay hall and, after a doctor found them to be in good health, were billeted by a local official at the Sogo hotel in nearby San Fernando for overnight stay. Yesterday morning, they were brought by the police to their station here to answer more inquiries.
Luciano said that CIAC’s Operation Command Center personnel were among the first to rush to the crash site which firetrucks from San Fernando and other towns found difficult to access due to narrow roads.
He said officials from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) were still conducting an investigation of the crash as of yesterday noon.
The plane apparently had delivered UPS cargo to Cebu and was on its way back to Clark without much cargo when the accident happened.
