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Davao, Philippines: Fishermen found body parts, combat boots and other debris yesterday that were believed to be from a C-130 military transport plane that crashed after taking off in the southern Philippines with nine crew members on board.
Air force chief Lt Gen Pedrito Cadungog would not speculate on the crash's cause. Sabotage is "always a possibility" especially with the air force leading a massive air and ground assault against Muslim guerrillas, but he said the rebels were not believed to have weapons capable of bringing down a plane flying above a couple of thousand feet.
Cadungog said it is "highly probable" that the remains and debris, including a plane wheel, came from the plane, which lost contact five minutes after taking off from Davao International Airport at 8.50 pm local time on Monday. The weather was reported clear at the time.
Investigation
"It's safe to say that the aircraft crashed there, although there is a long process of investigation that has to take place," Cadungog said.
"It's based on all the pieces of debris that we retrieved." Davao police investigator Joel Parojinog said residents from a coastal village told police they recovered from shore two combat boots, human body parts, and some documents, including a C-130 manual.
He said they reported seeing a plane around 9 pm on Monday "going down into the sea with flames on one of the wings", followed by an underwater explosion.
Cadungog said earlier that the air force had asked for assistance from the US military, its key ally in the war in the southern Philippines, and a long-range aircraft was expected to join eight other Philippine planes and helicopters later yesterday.
Refuelling
Search efforts focused on a 30km radius around the airport, including the nearby sea, Cadungog said.
He said the C-130, with two pilots and seven other crewmen, refuelled in Davao and was headed to central Iloilo city to pick up more than 80 members of the Presidential Security Group after yesterday's visit by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who attended the wake of a slain army colonel.
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