Medical helicopter missing with 5 aboard

A helicopter carrying five people, including a hospital patient and a nurse, went missing in a western Philippine province on Wednesday and an air and sea search has been launched, civil aviation officials said.

The helicopter, carrying a pilot, the patient, two companions and a nurse, was flying to a hospital in Brooke’s Point in Palawan from another town in the island province when it went missing, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines said.

All those aboard are Filipino except for the nurse, who is American, said Eric Apolonio, the aviation agency’s spokesperson.