translated from Spanish: A military plane crashed in the Philippines

The Philippines Secretary of Defense, Delfín Lorenzana, confirmed in a statement that 92 people, mostly military personnel, were on the plane at the time of the crash, and that at least 5 people remain missing. The aircraft, a four-engineD C-130 Hercules, was landing at an airfield on The Island of Jolo when it passed the runway and could not lift altitude again around 11.30 local time (03.30 GMT) until it crashed in a nearby field. As reported by the Philippine army, “When losing the runway the plane tried to regain power, but was unsuccessful and suffered an accident.” Authorities said that in addition to the soldiers, three pilots and five crew members were on the aircraft. The soldiers, meanwhile, had mostly just graduated and were to be deployed in a battalion fighting several Islamic extremist groups taking refuge in the remote Jolo archipelago.According to reports, three of the dead are civilians who were in the area where the plane hit, while the rest of the dead are soldiers. Among the 17 survivors were admitted to a military hospital in the region, there are also four civilians. According to investigations, the aircraft split in two after the heavy impact. At the moment the authorities are treating the case as an accident and not as an attack on the Armed Forces.

Original source in Spanish

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