Monitoring Desk
MANILA: Rescue workers underway a search in the Philippines for a missing medical evacuation helicopter with five people on board, authorities said on Wednesday.
The aircraft was flying a patient from the remote Islands of Mangsee to a hospital on the western island province of Palawan, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) said.
Medical Helicopter Missing
The authority said that the helicopter took off Wednesday morning from its location to Brooke’s Point municipality but never arrived.
Most of the 150-kilometer (93-mile) journey is over the Sulu Sea.
The Philippine Coast Guard has said that it had deployed a vessel to search waters between Balabac island, off southern Palawan, and Brooke’s Point.
The nationalities of those on board have yet to be released.
The helicopter was operated by the Philippine Adventist Medical Aviation Services, a non-profit organization providing medical evacuation services in Palawan, the southern island of Mindanao, and the main island of Luzon.
According to its website, the group was started by American helicopter and fixed-wing pilot Dwayne Harris in 2007 and had five pilots and five aircraft.
Less than two weeks ago, a Cessna plane carrying four people, including two Australians, crashed on an active volcano in the central Philippines. All four died.
