Plane crashes into Parañaque shanties, bursting into flames and killing 14, including kids

AT LEAST 14 persons, including  children were confirmed dead, while eight others were injured  after a light cargo plane crashed into a thickly populated area in Merville, Parañaque City yesterday afternoon.

Among the casualties were the five passengers of the Queen Air plane with body number RTC 824 including its pilots identified as Timoteo Aldo and Jessie Kim Lustica.

Mayor Florencio Bernabe said the impact sparked a huge fire which reached 5th alarm and razed 70 shanties surrounding the Better Living Subdivision.

At least 17 classrooms of the F. Serrano Elementary School on Doña Soledad Extension, Barangay Don Bosco, were also damaged.

As of press time, authorities have yet to identify the other casualties.

Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines director General Ramon Gutierrez said the incident happened shortly after the plane departed the Ninoy Aquino International Airport at 2:11 p.m.

The aircraft fell on Taiwan Street, Barangay Don Bosco at 2:30 p.m.

Gutierrez said five charred bodies were recovered from the plane’s wreckage while the remains of the eight children were found at the crash site.

The CAAP official said the plane, owned by Innovators Technology Inc., was heading for San Jose City in Mindoro.

Gutierrez said the aircraft malfunctioned as soon as it took off from the runway. He said minutes before the tragedy, one of the pilots requested the Manila Domestic Airport control tower for re-landing.

“Pag-take off niya mula dito sa ating domestic runway 1331, nagkaroon ng aberya at tumawag sa tower at nagre-request uli ng re-land emergency landing pero hindi na inabot kaya bumagsak siya,” he said.

The CAAP were still looking for the manifest submitted by the aviation company before the plane took off.