The death toll from the Philippine military plane crash has soared to 50 carrying a total of 96 people on board, a military chief said on Sunday.
Fifty people were killed and 49 reportedly received wounds when a Philippine Air Force plane crashed on Sunday, the country’s worst military air tragedy in decades.
He said the plane was carrying soldiers and missed the runway while landing. According to General Subijana, the plane tried to take off again but was unsuccessful.
According to the international news agency, most of the passengers on the military plane had recently passed out of basic military training and were being sent to the Joint Counter-Terrorism Task Force in the Muslim-majority region of the Philippines.
There are large numbers of troops in the southern Philippines, where militant groups are active, including Abu Sayyaf, who was involved in kidnapping for ransom.
All victims have now been accounted for. Maj. Gen. Edgard Arevalo, a spokesman for the military, said 47 army personnel died, while 49 survived the crash and are being healed in hospitals. Three civilians on the ground were killed and four were injured, Arevalo said.
He added that the soldiers on the flight were fresh graduates and had just completed military training.
An investigative team came Monday to look for the plane’s flight data recorder and probe what caused the crash. They will also look into the reports of soldiers jumping from the plane.
