‘Sabotage’ probed in Cagayan plane crash

By Charlie Lagasca

TUGUEGARAO CITY – Air Transportation Office authorities are now investigating if sabotage was involved in how a private plane crashed in Cagayan River along Barangay San Isidro, Iguig town in Cagayan province Monday afternoon wherein 13 people, five of them children, cheated death.

The pilot said he received a text message about a threat to sabotage the flight moments before they took off from Batanes.

Capt. Agustin Josel revealed this in a radio interview saying Queen Air RPM 1111 made the crash-landing around 2 p.m.

It was supposed to land at the Tuguegarao City Airport some 10 km from the crash site.

Besides the pilot and co-pilot, the plane carried 11 passengers, mostly delegates to the five-day Regional Boy Scouts’ Jamboree which started Wednesday in Cabugao, Ilocos Sur.

Miraculously, no one was hurt, as the passengers exited through the door just above the plane’s wing, Josel said.

The passengers climbed up the fuselage and shouted for help as the plane slowly sank.

Local fishermen rescued and brought them to the nearby residence of Iguig Vice Mayor Ferdinand Trinidad, Josel said.

Trinidad said the Beechcraft light plane with Tail No. RPC – 1111, was flying to the airport in Tuguegarao City from the airport in Basco, Batanes when the accident happened at 1:30 p.m.

Dr. Gil Savellano, executive officer of BSP Inter-regional Jamboree slated on December 1 to 5 in Barangay Daclapan, Cabugao, Ilocos Sur, said three of the children in the plane were boy scouts Harold Agito, Benedict John Acebes and Jovani Pahodpod, all students from Basco, Batanes.

Savellano identified the other occupants of the plane as Captains Jose Agustin and Benedict dela Cruz, the plane’s pilot and co-pilot; and passengers Rustom Hontonia, Jack Castaño, David Batan, Mae Jane Agacaoili, Kate Vallentes, Mika Horkajo, Jana Horkajo and Yale Mark Elep.

Trinidad cited statements from one of the 11 passengers that the plane had experienced mechanical trouble while flying after two hours and suddenly lost altitude, forcing the pilots to crash-land the plane in the river.

Meanwhile, the three Boy Scouts who survived received cheers and accolades from their colleagues who welcomed them at the inter-regional jamboree site in Cabugao, Ilocos Sur.

Scouts Giovanni Pajudpud, 10; Benedict John Acebes, 10; Keith Justine Valientes, 11 and John Harold Agito 11, all from the island province of Batanes, pushed through with their participation in the yearly jamboree of Boy Scouts, which kicked off in Barangay Daclapan, Cabugao town Wednesday.

The four Scouts, with other delegates from Cagayan Valley, arrived safely at the jamboree site, unlike what happened to them when their plane from Batanes suffered engine trouble in mid-air while preparing to land at the Tuguegarao City airport in Cagayan for a brief stopover en route to Ilocos Sur.

Had it not been for the experience and flying prowess of Capt. Jose Agustin and co-pilot Benedict de la Cruz of the Queen Air twin-engine, 14-seater plane, the Scouts, along with seven other passengers, including two children, would not have survived the crash-landing in the Cagayan River.

Despite the experience, the four Boy Scouts, who are part of the 17-man Batanes contingent, decided to join the weeklong jamboree, earning them cheers and accolades of their more than 6,000 colleagues who came from different parts of northern Luzon.

Reports quoted Gil Savellano, executive director of the Ilocos Sur Boy Scouts, as saying the four Scouts have shown exemplary courage after they still pushed through with their participation despite the harrowing experience.