High-risk search for plane

Race against time: Rescuers continuing their search for passengers of a Cessna 340 aircraft at Tumpa Gulley, Camalig town, Albay province in the Bicol region. — AP

Authorities said they would verify whether the wreckage of a small plane spotted near the crater of a restive volcano was that of a Cessna aircraft that went missing with four people on board over the weekend.

The Cessna 340, which was bound for Manila, took off from Albay province southeast of the capital on Saturday morning with two Filipino pilots and two Australian passengers but has not been heard from since then, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines said yesterday.