Two Australian men are feared dead after a plane lost contact in the Philippines with four people on board, as crews work to verify if a wreckage spotted near the crater of a restive volcano is the missing plane.
The plane, which was bound for the capital Manila, lost contact with air traffic control on Saturday, three minutes after it departed Bicol international airport in Albay province, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines said in a statement.
Search and rescue teams in Albay are working to verify if a wreckage of a small plane spotted on the slopes of the Mayon volcano is the missing Cessna 340.
Teams are searching an area about 350 metres from the crater of the volcano, near the town of Camalig. However, there was no indication of people at the site, the Associated Press reported.
The two passengers are believed to be Australians Simon Chipperfield and Karthi Santhanam, who previously worked at energy company Santos in its Adelaide office. The Adelaide-based men had been working for a geothermal power company in the Philippines, according to officials cited by AP.
“Simon and Karthi worked at Santos for many years and have a number of friends and former colleagues throughout the Adelaide and Brisbane offices,” a Santos spokesperson told the Guardian.
Representatives from the employee assistance program have been arranged to be at the Santos offices, the spokesperson said.
“Our thoughts are with Simon and Karthi’s families and loved ones.”
A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) spokesperson said officials were aware of the missing aircraft.
“The Australian embassy is in contact with local authorities and Dfat officials are providing consular assistance to the families of two Australians reported to be missing. Our thoughts are with their families, friends and loved ones at this difficult time,” the spokesperson said.
The ground search effort was hampered by rainy weather over the weekend. The search teams would have to be closely monitored by volcano experts and local officials given the restiveness of Mayon, one of the country’s 24 active volcanoes, AP reported.
“It’s a very risky operation,” the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology director, Teresito Bacolcol, said. “It’s a race against time and it’s a matter of life and death, but there’s also the danger of rockfalls and volcanic lahar”, referring to a landslide of volcanic debris.
Rescue contingents could enter a permanent danger zone 6km around the volcano because “it’s an extraordinary situation”, but the search and rescue should be carried out by well-trained experts, who should be backed up by standby emergency contingents and made aware of the high risks involved, Bacolcol said.
A popular tourist attraction because of its near-perfect cone, Mayon last erupted in 2018, displacing tens of thousands of villagers.
It is currently under the second of five volcano alert levels, meaning volcanic earthquakes, steam and gas emissions, ground deformation and intermittent ash and steam blasts have been sporadically detected. Alert 5 means a major and deadly volcanic eruption is under way.
– With Associated Press
