At least 17 people died and 40 were injured on Sunday (July 4th) in the crash of a Philippine military plane that crashed after missing the airstrip, said Philippine Defense Minister Delfin Lorenzana, in a statement.
Ninety-two people, mostly military, were on board the aircraft, a C-130, when it crashed on Jolo Island, Sulu Province, in the south of the archipelago, said Lorenzana.
The plane “Missed the airstrip and then tried to regain power, but failed”, the chief of the armed forces, General Cirilito Sobejana, told the Philippine media. “Help is there, we pray that other lives can be saved”, he added to Agence France-Presse. He said the 40 people rescued had been taken to a military hospital for treatment.
Planes to deliver humanitarian aid
Many of the passengers on the plane had recently received basic military training. They were sent to this island as part of a joint counterterrorism task force in that region.
The army is very present in the south of the Philippines because of the presence of the Islamist group Abou Sayyaf, considered as a terrorist organization by Washington. This group split into several factions, some of which have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State organization. It is made up of a network of activists to whom bloody attacks and kidnappings of foreign tourists and Christian missionaries are attributed.
The C-130s are military transport aircraft also often used to deliver humanitarian aid and disaster relief.
The crash comes after a Black Hawk helicopter crashed in June during an overnight training flight, killing all six people on board.