Philippines: 8 killed as plane carrying medical crew, patient crashes at Manila airport

A flight chartered by Philippine government to evacuate sick people from Tokyo crashed at Manila Airport in the Philippines on March 28 killing all eight people on board. The IAI Westwind jet which had the registration number RP-C5880 was scheduled to take off from Manilla’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport at around 8pm (local time) but caught fire before making it off the tarmac. According to reports, the blazes originating from the aircraft took firefighters nearly an hour to put down.

The local media reports stated that the medical evacuation flight was carrying eight passengers including three crew members, one patient, one doctor, one nurse, one flight medic, one patient's assistant. Airport authorities have confirmed that none of them survived the fatal crash and it still remains unknown if the patient was infected of coronavirus or some other disease. 

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Jet made several trips prior to crash

Prior to the fatal crash, the same jet reportedly made several tours around and in the Philippines to deliver medical supplies as well as certain trips to Japan, Thailand, and Taiwan. Nation’s Department of Health apparently posted an image on Facebook showing the plane being loaded with supplies by the healthcare officials. The Philippines has currently reported at least 1,418 cases of the deadly coronavirus and at least 71 deaths.

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(Image source: Twitter/MikeGo6671)