An engine of a Philippine Air Force cargo plane bound for the hotly-contested frontier of the West Philippine Sea, caught fire while taxing for takeoff at Clark Air Base Wednesday morning.
All 122 people, including seven crewmen on board, successfully evacuated with no injuries minutes after the incident involving an Air Force C130 cargo aircraft.
Philippine Air Force spokesman Maj. Aristides Galang said the C130 plane under the 220th Airlift Wing with registry No. 4726 was preparing for takeoff at the Clark Air Base when its left engine caught fire, forcing the pilot to abort the flight.
Galang said the cargo plane was carrying students taking Master of National Security Administration courses at the National Defense College of the Philippines bound for the largest Philippine-held Pagasa Island in Palawan.
“I think they will be visiting the Spratly Island as part of the curriculum of the NDCP,” Galang said.
Reports said the MNSA students will be briefed on the present situation on the West Philippine Sea (WPS) including the security environment at the Pagasa Island which is also being claimed by Beijing.
China has virtually converted all floating shoals, reefs and islets situation in the hotly-contested South China Sea as military garrisons which have threatened freedom of navigation to all ocean-going vessels.
Galang could not ascertain the cause of the fire prompting ranking technical Air Force officials to suspend all C130 flights pending the result of the investigation of the incident.
“At this point, we could not really guess the cause and what triggered the fire. As of now, we are conducting investigation,” Galang said.
As a safety procedure, all C130 planes will undergo rigid inspection to determine its airworthiness before they are allowed to operate.