The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) announced on Wednesday, July 7, that it has already identified 19 out of 49 cadavers from the ill-fated C-130 that crashed in Sulu.
The victims, who were in the aircraft, were identified by the AFP as follows:
From the Philippine Air Force:
- Major Emmanuel Makalintal
- Major Michael Vincent Benolerao
- First Lieutenant Joseph Hintay
- Technical Sergeant Mark Anthony Agana
- Technical Sergeant Donald Badoy
- Staff Sergeant Jan Neil Macapaz
- Staff Sergeant Michael Bulalaque
- Sergeant Jack Navarro
From the Philippine Army:
- Sergeant Butch Maestro
- Private First Class Christopher Rollon
- Private First Class Felixzalday Provido
- Private Raymar Carmona
- Private Vic Monera
- Private Mark Nash Lumanta
- Private Jomar Gabas
- Private Marcelino Alquisar
- Private Mel Mark Angana
Others:
- Captain Higello Emeterio from the AFP Medical Corps
- First Lieutenant Sheena Alexandria Tato from the AFP Nurse Corps
On Sunday, July 4, the C-130 Hercules plane crashed in Patikul town and killed at least 52 people, including 49 military personnel.
According to the AFP, 11 of the cadavers were already transported to their hometowns. The remains of First Lieutenant Tato were also transported on Wednesday, July 7, to her hometown via a C-295 aircraft.
AFP chief of staff General Cirilito Sobejana said they are still identifying the 30 other cadavers, while the investigation is ongoing.
“This is a very hard task since the cadavers were beyond recognition but we have experts supporting our efforts. We are doing our best to expedite the identification and the ongoing investigation without compromising its credibility,” said Sobejana in a statement.
On Tuesday, July 6, the military retrieved the C-130’s black box that will be used for further investigation. A black box contains useful information such as pilots’ final exchanges and flight data which are helpful in probes into aviation accidents.
Earlier, Major General Romeo Brawner Jr, commander of the Philippine Army’s 4th Infantry Division (4ID), said military probers used dental records of the dead soldiers to determine their exact identities.
“Many of them were burned beyond recognition that it was impossible to identify them without the dental records,” Brawner said.
Brawner said the 4ID staff had already sent to Zamboanga City the copies of the dental records of the soldiers who died in the crash.
The 4ID recruited 86 of the soldiers who took the C-130 plane that crashed in Sulu last Sunday.
They were supposed to be deployed with the 11th Army Division to fight the Abu Sayyaf terrorists in Sulu.
Some of the families of the dead soldiers raised fears that the dead bodies inside the closed white coffins were maybe not their relatives. – with reports from Froilan Gallardo/Rappler.com
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