Wreckage of the Beechcraft Baron 55 (BE55) trainer aircraft that went missing on the morning of May 17 after taking off from San Jose Airport in Occidental Mindoro was found 43.52 kilometers, south of Mindoro Strait.
Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) spokesman Eric Apolonio said in a media advisory that their search and rescue (SAR) reported to the operation center that its Cessna Caravan seaplane found a bag with identification of the pilot-in-command Capt. Jose Nelson Yapparcon and six pieces of “small and big debris” of the trainer aircraft that was operated by Orient Aviation Corporation (OAC).
The bag was found around 11:28 a.m. off San Jose and the pieces of debris of the ill-fated aircraft were located around 12:06 p.m. on the same day.
“The whereabouts of the two passengers of the ill-fated aircraft, Capt. Yapparcon and Saudi national student pilot Abdullah Alsharif is still unascertained as of now,” Apolonio said.
He said the CAAP Aircraft Accident Investigation and Inquiry Board (AAIIB) investigators were immediately dispatched at the crash site to conduct an investigation and determine the cause of the incident.
Meanwhile, a progress report received by Palawan News from Police Regional Office (PRO) MIMAROPA spokesman Police Colonel Socrates Faltado said that about 11:30 a.m. on Monday, Vice-Mayor Diosdado Egina of Caluya town in Antique reported to the municipal police about a recovered bag off the islet of Sitio Panagatan 1, Barangay Harigue, believed to be owned by Yapparcon.
“Acting on the said information, at about 1:10 p.m. of the same date, police personnel of Caluya MPS together with the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Caluya Sub-Station and Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO) personnel sailed to the islet to check the report,” the progress report said.
The bag, which contained a wallet, seven credit cards, three SD cards, two flash drives, a key, a power bank, ID pictures, a pilot license card, a charger, a necklace, Indonesian dollar bills, and other items, was turned over to Yapparcon’s son Jayson at the Semirara Mining and Power Corporation Airport.
