CRASH SITE. Police and military personnel inspect the wreckage of a Beechcraft King Air 300 (registration number N349CA) that crashed in Ampatuan, Maguindanao del Sur on Thursday (Feb. 6, 2025), killing all four passengers on board. Villagers gather near the site as authorities conduct their investigation. (PNA photo courtesy of Bhengs B. Salinogen)
PNP assisting CAAP in probing deadly Maguindanao crash
THE Philippine National Police (PNP) is providing full support to the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) in investigating the crash of a private aircraft in Ampatuan, Maguindanao on Thursday afternoon which left four persons, three of them foreigners, dead.
PNP Public Information Office chief Col. Randulf T. Tuaño said a team from the Scene of Crime Operations (SOCO) of the PNP Forensic Group in Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) has been tasked to process the crash site and the plane wreckage as part of the probe.
The names of the fatalities will only be released upon identification and permission of their next of kin.
“We affirm that the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines is the primary agency leading the investigation into this incident. The PNP, through the Police Regional Office Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, is providing full support to CAAP’s efforts, including securing the crash site and assisting in search, rescue, and recovery operations as needed,” said Tuaño.
At the same time, he called on the public “to refrain from speculating and allow the proper authorities to conduct their investigation,” saying that the PNP remains committed to ensuring public safety and assisting in all necessary efforts related to the incident.
The small plane, with body number N349CA, crashed around 2:45 p.m. Thursday in the middle of a rice field in Bgy. Malatimon, which is about eight kilometers from the municipal proper.
Tuaño said he has been informed by the Police Regional Office-BARMM that no local residents have given statements that they saw smoke coming from the plane before it crashed and nearly hit a carabao grazing in the area.
The United States Indo-Pacific Command Public Affairs Office said the aircraft was contracted by the US Department of Defense to provide “intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support” to local security troops.
The incident occurred during a routine mission, in support of US-Philippine security cooperation activities, the US INDOPAC said.
“There were four personnel on board, including one US military service member and three defense contractors,” it added.
