CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY: The military’s search and rescue team confirmed the pilots’ two bodies found near the wreckage of the FA-50 jet that crashed in Kalatungan Mountain Range in the village of Mirayon, Talakag, Bukidnon about 11: 00 Wednesday morning, ( March 5, 2025).
Lt. Col. Salvacion Evangelista, spokesperson of the army’s Eastern Mindanao Command based in Davao, made the announcement about the location of the missing fighter jet Wednesday morning.
The military also confirmed that the two bodies near the jet’s wreckage were that of the pilots who might have ejected shortly before the fighter jet crashed. The identies of the pilots were not disclosed.
The army’s Malaybalay based 493rd Brigade dispatched helicopters and rescue groups to the area Tuesday noon, March 4, 2025 after the fighter jet FA-50 failed to return to Mactan Airbase in Cebu after a sorties midnight Tuesday.
The fighter jets of the Philippine Air Force were dispatched Tuesday evening on an airstrike against more than 100 fully armed communist New People’s Army (NPA) rebels who engaged the state forces in a gun battle in the boundary of Bukidnon and Agusan del Sur about 1:00 oc clock Tuesday morning
