(The retrieved bodies being loaded on a PAF helicopter. Photo by Ernie Esconde)
ORANI, Bataan — Rescuers from different government agencies retrieved on Friday the bodies of a student pilot and the instructor pilot, both Indian nationals, of the Cessna training aircraft that crashed in the area of Mt. Natib here Monday.
Chief Inspector Leodebaldon Bacon, Orani police chief, said the plane wreckage and the bodies were found at a ridge between two mountains, some 2.1 kilometers from Barangay Tala.
“Totally charred, sunog ang crash site. Pira-piraso ang eroplano. Ang gulong, ang piyesa n sa malayo. Sa pinakagitna, sa pinakamalaking bahagi ng eroplano, nandoon ang katawan ng dalawa,” he said.
He said that members of the search and rescue team came from the police, Philippine Army, Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council and other agencies.
“Mahirap ma-trace ang lugar. Mabuti na lamang at matiyaga ang mga rescuers at naging successful ang retrieval,” Bacon said.
Some friends and relatives of student pilot Kuldeep Singh, 26, complained that Fliteline Aviation School in Plaridel, Bulacan did not perform what it should have done.
“After Tuesday, Wednesday wala nang update ang Fliteline, kami pa tinatanong ng update,” a relative said.
“We were hoping that the two were still alive. Hoping that someone will help them. We made the search on our own. Basically, it should be done by Fliteline. It took days to take the bodies ASAP,” a family friend said.
Leodebaldon said the aircraft left Plaridel for Subic Monday morning and was to return to Plaridel in the same morning but for still unknown reason crashed in Tala.
Captain Navern Nagaraja, instructor pilot and student pilot Kuldeep Singh were on board the Cessna aircraft operated by Fliteline Aviation School when the crash happened.
Lt. Col. Arnel Cabugon, 48th IB Batallion commander, said the plane was a total wreck. “Sunog ang eroplano at dalawang sakay na hindi na makilala,” he said.
Men from the 48th IB were the first to arrive and cordoned the area Thursday night.
A helicopter from the Philippine Air Force airlifted the bodies from the crash site to 1Bataan Command Center here.
