Search continues for missing aircraft carrying trainer pilot, student in Philippines

A small plane carrying a Filipino trainer pilot and an Indian student is missing in the northeastern Philippines and the search is being hampered by bad weather, civil aviation officials said Wednesday.

The Cessna 152 left from Laoag city in northern Ilocos Norte province around noon Tuesday but failed to land three hours later as expected in Tuguegarao city in Cagayan province, said the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, which did not immediately identify the two people on the plane.

The search efforts by the Philippine air force, army troops and other government personnel Tuesday were hampered by bad weather.

A coast guard helicopter and a private helicopter cut short their search flights Wednesday due to bad weather, the civil aviation agency said.

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Agency spokesman Eric Apolonio told The Associated Press the plane received clearance to take off from Laoag, where the weather cleared after a typhoon passed through mountainous northern region last week.

“The plane may have encountered bad weather along the way,” Apolonio said.

The last known position of the plane was northwest of Cagayan province’s Alcala town in a mountainous region where searchers suspect the plane may have crashed, the civil agency said in a statement.

Typhoon Doksuri caused damage to homes, flooding and landslides in Cagayan, Ilocos Norte and other northern provinces. It also enhanced seasonal monsoon rains that swamped the capital, Manila, and other regions.