BY GERRY LEE GORIT
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Military personnel are now guarding the area where the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) crashed in Barangay Pualas, Baungon town, Bukidnon as experts are set to investigate the cause of the crash.
The Hermes 900 drone was reported to have crashed in Pualas after it went on a functional flight check on Saturday.
The UAV took off at the Lumbia airport in Lumbia, this city, then “lost contact” with the ground operator hours later.
“The UAV is still in the area. This is being secured by the Army, the police and the Air Force. We will have to wait for the arrival of investigating team, before this can be moved to Lumbia,” said Col. Menard Mariano, spokesperson of the Phil. Air Force, in a text message Sunday.
Witnesses said the UAV had circled the several times in the air then it began to nosedive, grazed a tree before crash-landing into a thickly vegetated ravine just a few hundred meters away from a mountain resort in Pualas.
Lt. Col. Harold Hernando, commander of the PAF’s Tactical Operations Group-10, said they are still determining the cause of the crash.
Hernando said no person was injured and no property was damaged at the crash site.
He added they will retrieve the crashed drone “the soonest possible time” and to bring it back to Lumbia.
