PHL seeks US help on data recorders for military plane crash probe

THE PHILIPPINES will send black boxes of a Lockheed C-130 aircraft that crashed at the weekend to the United States to seek expert help in opening and analyzing them, the military chief said on Wednesday. The United States has committed to help extract information from the flight data and cockpit voice recorders that could shed light on the tragic incident that killed 53 people in the southern province of Jolo, Cirilito Sobejana said in a local television interview. Mr. Sobejana said the Philippines has no such capability. He gave no timetable for when the US experts could complete data extraction. The aircraft was carrying troops bound for counterinsurgency operations when it crashed with 96 aboard, killing 53 in the country’s worst military air accident in nearly three decades. Among the dead were three civilians on the ground and the rest of the crew were injured.