Copyright 1996 Xinhua News Agency
The materials in the Xinhua file were compiled by The Xinhua News Agency. These
materials may not be republished without the express written consent of The
Xinhua News Agency.
MARCH 15, 1996, FRIDAY
LENGTH: 394 words
HEADLINE: 10 philippine officers die in helicopter crash
BYLINE: by ding zhaolin
DATELINE: manila, march 15; ITEM NO: 0315234
BODY:
ten army officers including a brigadier general were killed when their helicopter
crashed this afternoon near samar island in eastern philippines. the remains
of the general and one pilot have already been recovered. rerromaron afran,
spokesman of the public information office of the philippine air force (paf),
told xinhua over telephone that the paf uh-ih helicopter crashed at about 1:40
p.m. local time (gmt 05:40) enroute from calbayog to catbalogan in samar area.
he said brigadier general danilo p. olay was on board when the helicopter crashed.
the general was the commanding general of the army's 8th infantry division based
in camp lukban catbalogan, samar. according to a philippine news agency report,
the ten military men including the brigadier general were confirmed killed when
the ill-fated helicopter blew up as a result of bad weather. the report said
president fidel ramos has been informed of this accident by general arturo t.
enrile, chief of staff of the armed forces of the philippines (afp). general
enrile told president ramos that the said helicopter blew up upon impact on
the sea as a result of bad weather in the samar area. in a telephone interview
with xinhua, huberd damadac of the philippine rescue coordinating center in
manila said there is speculation that there is someone behind the accident,
because witnesses said the helicopter first exploded in mid-air before it smashed
into the sea along the coast of samar island. however, the speculation has not
been confirmed by the philippine air force or investigators. initial reports
received by general enrile state that there were no survivors. the remains of
general danilo p. olay and one of the pilot lt. cordial have already been recovered.
both were badly burned. according to the public information office of the philippine
air force, paf chief lt. general arnulfo aceder jr. immediately sent an investigation
team to determine the cause of the accident. he also directed all commanders
of the air force to conduct a maintenance inspection of all uh-ih aircraft.
the paf head also ordered all flying units to review procedures on bad weather
flying and to check their landing techniques, flight integrity and duties of
crew members. at press time, the search and rescue operations conducted by both
the police and the military are still going on.
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