By: Raydes B. Barcia
Camalig, Albay —Following the retrieval of four bodies of ill-fated Cessna plane passengers, Camalig Mayor Carlos “Caloy” Irwin G. Baldo, Incident Management Team ground commander finally terminated the extremely delicate high-angle search and retrieval operations on Thursday evening here.
“Mission accomplished,” Baldo said during the press briefing held at the municipal hall as he announced the termination of the Cessna 340A retrieval operation.
“After 13 days of intensive and exhausting operations, responders composed of mixed mountaineers, local guides, the Naval Special Operations Group (NAVSOG), the Philippine Army, Bureau of Fire Protection – Special Rescue Force (BFP-SRF), and the Philippine National Police (PNP) were able to search, retrieve, and safely drop off and secure the bodies of all the four onboard Cessna 340A under the direct supervision of the Incident Management Team (IMT),” he said.
The search and rescue operations for Cessna 340A ran for more than 5 days until operations were shifted from rescue to retrieval, following the confirmation of the 4 passengers’ actual location, identity, and situation.
The bodies of Pilot, Rufino James T. Crisostomo Jr., aircraft mechanic, Joel G. Martin, and the two EDC technical consultants Australian Engineers Simon Chipperfield and Mr. Karthi Santanan were brought down from the crash site and set to be turned over to the Scene of the Crime Operation (SOCO) for further investigation.
Baldo lauded the selfless efforts and the courageous responders who have put their lives in great danger on the line of duty and volunteerism and thus stood up to the challenges surrounding Camalig first and hopefully, the last aviation tragedy.
“Amid the steep slopes of Mayon, rockfall events, fogginess, strong winds, loose, damp, and slippery soils, and the risk of a possible phreatic eruption, the responders pushed through to accomplish one of Albay’s most arduous whole-of-government and whole-of-society high-angle search and retrieval mission to date,” he said.
“These are the brave mountaineers from the Albay Climbing Community (ACC), Mayon Mountaineers, Federation of Bicol Mountaineers Inc., Mountaineering Federation of the Philippines, Inc., and the Wilderness Search and Rescue (WISAR), local guides, Naval Special Operations Group (NAVSOG), the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), Philippine National Police (PNP), Philippine Army, Energy Development Corporation (EDC), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Philippine Air Force (PAF), Philippine Navy, and other volunteers,” Baldo said.
According to Baldo, the laudable actions of the responders was achieved due to collective and well-coordinated efforts of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction & Management Office (MDRRMO), EDC, Tactical Operations Group (TOG) 5, SOCO, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), and Albay Provincial Safety, Emergency, and Management Office (APSEMO) who have been very active throughout the 13-day operation.
Apart from the determination of the teams operating administratively and on the actual field, Baldo expressed gratitude to the management of the Energy Development Corporation for completely financing all logistics operation requirements of extremely high-angle search and retrieval operations providing daily supplies of food, water, equipment, and other augmentation since day one up to the last day of the operations to bring down the corpses of their co-workers to be able to return to their loved ones in the Philippines and in Australia.
The Cessna 340A operations according to Baldo open and given then new challenges in terms of local incident response and the local government, along with partner public and private agencies deem it imperative to take in and utilize what they have learned to improve further the efforts toward disaster risk reduction and management, even so, what the Cessna 340A operations truly highlighted was the Bicolanos’ undying resilience, faith, camaraderie, and hope especially amid great adversity.
In light of this development, the Cessna 340A search and retrieval operations are hereby terminated – The Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction & Management Council (MDRRMC) Operations Center (OpCen) remains operation 24/7 as usual.
Baldo also expressed his empathy to the families and friends of four passengers who died in a plane crash.