Two Australians Confirmed Dead In Philippines Light Plane Crash
The men were missing from Saturday
ABC News / Getty
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong has confirmed two Australians are among those dead following a light plane crash in the Philippines.
Two South Australian men, Simon Chipperfield and Karthi Santhanam, as well as two Filipino pilots, were on board the flight when it crashed on Saturday morning.
Speaking from Fiji this morning, Senator Wong said that search and rescue teams had overnight reached the crash site, some 32 hours after its disappearance.
It was discovered near the crater of an active volcano in the Albay province.
“Sadly there are no survivors,” Senator Wong said.
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"On behalf of the Australian Government, I'd like to extend my deepest sympathy to the families of the two men, Simon Chipperfield and Karthi Santhanam, both from Adelaide, my hometown, as well as the Filipino nationals involved."
Chipperfield and Santhanam were working as technical consultants for geothermal power company, Energy Development Corp, and were on board the Cessna 340 which was headed towards the nation’s capital, Manila.
It is believed that air traffic control lost contact with the small plane just three minutes after it took off from Bicol International Airport.
"The families of those who we have lost will be grieving and I express not only our sympathy and condolences, but to say to them, our hearts go out to them in this time of great grief,” Senator Wong added.
She went on to acknowledge the families of the two soldiers who were killed during the search and rescue operation.
Military officials suspect the soldiers were shot on Monday by five communist New People's Army guerrillas in a market where they were buying supplies for the rescue operation.
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