ESamar debris suspected parts of plane wreckage

THE aviation regulator of the Philippines said on Sunday it could not yet determine if the debris that washed ashore at a resort in Anuron Beach, Mercedes, Eastern Samar on August 6 was part of a missing aircraft.

According to Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) spokesman Eric Apolonio, only aviation experts were authorized to authenticate if the metal pieces came from a plane wreckage.

He said the Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Center has reported that there have been no missing aircraft within the Philippines’ flight information region (FIR) as well as within its neighboring FIRs.

Aviation investigators from the CAAP’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Inquiry Board (AAIIB), however, were unable to fly to Eastern Samar due to the suspension of domestic flights.

Because of the modified enhanced community quarantine imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), the CAAP will have to get permission first from the local government unit (LGU) in order that the AAIIB team would be able to fly to the province to investigate.

Apolonio said the CAAP investigators will first have to undergo swab testing, a mandatory requirement from any LGU.

Reports said the locals believe that the pieces of metal found on Anuron Beach came from aircraft wreckage.

Apolonio said CAAP personnel from Tacloban City and Guiuan airport, together with the local police, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency K9 unit and representatives from Mercedes, have already visited the area.

Markers were immediately placed where the debris was found, he added.

After the first piece of metal was discovered, said the CAAP spokesman, fishermen in Barangay Taytay, Guiuan, Eastern Samar also discovered debris on the shore facing the Pacific Ocean, and the Philippine Coast Guard “has secured the hull-shaped aircraft remains.”