US service member, 3 contractors killed in surveillance mission plane crash in southern Philippines

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — One U.S. work subordinate and 3 defence contractors were killed Thursday erstwhile a level contracted by the U.S. subject crashed successful a atom tract successful the confederate Philippines, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said.

The craft was conducting a regular ngo “providing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance enactment astatine the petition of our Philippine allies,” the bid said successful a statement. It said the origin of the clang was nether investigation.

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines besides confirmed the clang of a airy level successful Maguindanao del Sur province. It did not instantly supply different details.

The bodies of the 4 radical were retrieved from the wreckage successful Ampatuan town, said Ameer Jehad Tim Ambolodto, a information serviceman of Maguindanao del Sur. Indo-Pacific Command said the names of the unit were being withheld pending household notifications.

Windy Beaty, a provincial disaster-mitigation officer, told The Associated Press that she received reports that residents saw fume coming from the level and heard an detonation earlier the craft plummeted to the crushed little than a kilometer (about fractional a mile) from a clump of farmhouses.

Nobody was reported injured connected oregon adjacent the clang site, which was cordoned disconnected by troops, Beaty said.

A h2o buffalo connected the crushed was killed arsenic a effect of the level crash, section officials said.

U.S. forces person been deployed successful a Philippine subject campy successful the country’s southbound for decades to assistance supply counsel and grooming to Filipino forces battling Muslim militants. The portion is the homeland of number Muslims successful the mostly Roman Catholic nation.

Originally Published: February 6, 2025 astatine 12:55 PM EST