Australia announces humanitarian support for Philippines following tropical storms
The Australian government has announced humanitarian assistance to support the Philippines' recovery from a devastating series of tropical storms.
At least 17 people have been killed in a military plane crash in the southern Philippines, but 40 were pulled alive from the burning wreckage.
The military transport aircraft was carrying 92 people, mostly troops, when it overshot the runway on Jolo island.
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Survivors were taken to a nearby military hospital. Seventeen bodies were found at the crash site.
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A large ball of black smoke was seen above the wreckage of the plane, a C130 Hercules.
The state news agency carried pictures of the site showing burning debris in a wooded area close to a number of buildings.
The plane, which came down at 11:30 local time (03:30 GMT) a few kilometers from the town of Jolo, was carrying troops from Cagayan de Oro, on the southern island of Mindanao.
“It missed the runway, trying to regain power but it didn’t make it,” armed forces chief Gen Sobejana told reporters.
The soldiers were part of the military’s stepped-up presence in the southern Philippines to combat Islamist militants such as the Abu Sayyaf group.
Officials said there was no sign that the aircraft had been attacked, and an investigation would start once the rescue operation was complete.
Many of those on board had only recently completed basic military training, AFP reports.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said rescue and recovery efforts were ongoing. The aircraft had 92 people on board, including three pilots and five crew and the rest were army personnel, military officials said. The pilots survived but were seriously injured.
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules was one of two ex-U.S. Air Force aircraft handed over to the Philippines as part of military assistance this year. It crashed on landing shortly before noon Sunday in Bangkal village in the mountainous town of Patikul in Sulu province, military chief of staff Gen. Cirilito Sobejana said.
Sobejana said at least 40 people on board were brought to a hospital and troops were trying to save the rest.
Initial pictures released by the military showed the tail section of the cargo plane. The other parts of the plane were burned or scattered in pieces in a clearing surrounded by coconut trees. Soldiers and other rescuers with stretchers are seen dashing into and from the smoke-shrouded crash site.
The plane was transporting troops from southern Cagayan de Oro city for deployment in Sulu, Sobejana said. Government forces have been battling Abu Sayyaf militants in the predominantly Muslim province of Sulu for decades.
It was not immediately clear what caused the crash
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