US military contractor plane crashes in Philippines, killing 4 aboard
Beechcraft King Air 300 Private Jet Charter. (Photo via Stratos Jets)
A U.S. military-contracted aircraft crashed into a rice field in the southern Philippines Thur, killing all four foreign nationals aboard, according to Philippine officials and the U.S. Embassy in Manila.
The Beech King Air 300 went down in Ampatuan, located in Maguindanao del Sur province, U.S. Embassy spokesperson Kanishka Gangopadhyay confirmed to The Associated Press.
The spokesperson noted the aircraft was under contract with the U.S. military and said the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) would provide additional details about the incident.
“We have recovered four bodies of foreign nationals from the wreckage,” said Ameer Jehad Tim Ambolodto, a security official from Maguindanao del Sur province. Authorities are still working to identify the victims.
The crash site is located in the southern region of the archipelago, an area that has historically seen U.S. military presence as part of long-standing defense cooperation between the two nations.
Philippine news outlet PhilStar reported that the aircraft crashed in a rice field in the Ampatuan area. Local authorities have launched an investigation into the circumstances of the crash.
The U.S. Embassy in Manila and Philippine officials are coordinating their response to the incident. Further details about the cause of the crash and the aircraft’s mission were not immediately available.
