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world news Dialuna 5 Juli 2021

Philippine military plane crashes, 45 dead, 49 rescued

(AP) — A Philippine air over to the Philippines as ing surrounded by coconut
force C-130 aircraft car- part of military assistance this trees. Soldiers and other res-
rying combat troops as- year. cuers with stretchers were
signed to fight Muslim seen dashing to and from the
militants crashed and ex- The aircraft originally took smoke-shrouded crash site,
ploded while landing in off from Manila with only a where a dark gray smoke bil-
the south Sunday, killing few passengers, including a lowed shortly after impact.
at least 42 army soldiers two-star army general, Ro-
on board and three civil- meo Brawner Jr., who dis- The plane was transporting
ians on the ground in one embarked with his wife and troops, many of them new
of the worst disasters in three children in Cagayan soldiers who had just under-
the air force’s history. de Oro city, where he’s set to gone basic training, from the
become the new military re- southern Cagayan de Oro
At least 49 other soldiers gional commander on Mon- city for deployment in Sulu,
were rescued with injuries day. The army troops then officials said.
and survived the fiery noon- boarded the C-130 in Ca-
time crash into a coconut gayan de Oro for the flight to It was not immediately clear
grove outside the Jolo airport Sulu. what caused the crash. Re-
in Sulu province, includ- gional military commander if an aircraft misses the land-
ing some who managed to Officials said the injured Lt. Gen. Corleto Vinluan ing spot. The official, who The U.S. and the Philippines
jump off the aircraft before personnel were brought to said it was unlikely that the has flown military aircraft to have separately blacklisted
it exploded and was gutted a hospital in Sulu or flown aircraft took hostile fire, and and from Jolo several times, Abu Sayyaf as a terrorist or-
by fire, military officials said. to nearby Zamboanga city, cited witnesses as saying that spoke on condition of ano- ganization for bombings,
Three of seven villagers who and troops were continuing it appeared to have overshot nymity because of a lack of ransom kidnappings and be-
were hit on the ground died. to search for the missing. the runway then crashed on authority to speak publicly. headings. It’s been consid-
“A number of soldiers were the periphery of the airport. Initial pictures showed that erably weakened by years of
The aircraft had 96 people seen jumping out of the air- the weather was apparently government offensives but
on board, including three pi- craft before it hit the ground, Military chief of staff Gen. fine in Sulu, although other remains a threat.
lots and five crew while the sparing them from the explo- Cirilito Sobejana told report- parts of the Philippines were
rest were army personnel, sion caused by the crash,” a ers that “the plane missed the experiencing rains due to an President Rodrigo Duterte
the military said, adding only military statement said, citing runway and it was trying to approaching tropical depres- expanded the military pres-
five soldiers remained unac- witnesses. regain power but failed and sion. The airport in Sulu’s ence in Sulu to a full division
counted for late Sunday. The crashed.” main town of Jolo is located a in late 2018, deploying hun-
pilots survived but were seri- Initial pictures released by few kilometers (miles) from dreds of additional troops, air
ously injured, officials said. the military showed the tail An air force official told The a mountainous area where force aircraft and other com-
section of the cargo plane rel- AP that the Jolo runway is troops have battled Abu bat equipment after vowing
The Lockheed C-130 Her- atively intact. The other parts shorter than most others in Sayyaf militants. Some mili- to wipe out Abu Sayyaf and
cules was one of two ex-U.S. of the plane were burned or the country, making it more tants have aligned themselves allied foreign and local mili-
Air Force aircraft handed scattered in pieces in a clear- difficult for pilots to adjust with the Islamic State group. tants.

Japan's leader pushes rescue after deadly mudslide hits town

(AP) — More than 1,000 Suga told reporters 19 people officials said three people had hard hats. Six military drones
soldiers, firefighters and had been rescued, and 130 been injured. were being flown to help in Witnesses said they heard a
police on Sunday waded homes and other buildings the search. giant roar and then watched
through a giant mud- were damaged in Atami. Troops, firefighters and other helplessly as homes were
slide that ripped through rescue workers, backed by Shizuoka Gov. Heita swallowed up by the muddy
a Japanese resort town Two people were dead but three coast guard ships, were Kawakatsu told a news con- waves.
southwest of Tokyo a day more were feared missing, working to clear the mud ference Sunday that land de-
earlier, killing at least two he said, speaking after an from the streets of Atami and velopment upstream from Like many others, Mariko
people and leaving about emergency Cabinet meeting. reach those believed to be the affected area may have Hattori, an interpreter who
20 missing as it swept away Earlier, disaster officials said trapped or carried away. The played a role in the disaster. lives a short walk away from
houses and cars. about 20 were unaccounted rescue workers were barely Citing preliminary drone where the tsunami-like tor-
for, but warned the number visible in the rainfall and examination, Kawakatsu rent of mud struck, at first
Prime Minister Yoshihide may rise. Shizuoka prefecture thick fog except for the their said massive amounts of soil didn’t know what happened.
heaped up in the area were
all washed down, although it The area of Atami where the
was not immediately known mudslide struck, Izusan, is a
whether the development seaside resort about 100 kilo-
was the direct cause. meters (60 miles) southwest
of Tokyo. It’s known for hot
Kawakatsu said he will inves- springs, a shrine and shop-
tigate the land development. ping streets.
Media reports said a planned
housing development had At an evacuation center, Yuka
been abandoned after its op- Komatsu, 47, told the Asahi
erator had a financial prob- newspaper she narrowly es-
lem. caped the mudslide after
seeing a nearby apartment
The mudslide early Saturday building being hit. Fright-
crashed down a mountain- ened, she gabbed her mother
side into rows of houses fol- and jumped into her car. In
lowing heavy rains that began the rearview mirror, she saw
several days ago. Bystanders, muddy water swelling and
their gasps of horror audi- coming from behind as it
ble, caught the scene on cell washed down broken trees
phone video. and rocks.