Three of four bodies of Cessna plane crash victims dropped off Mayon base

After a two-day climb that started on Feb 28, a team of government rescue personnel, firemen, mountaineers and local guides reaches the gully on Mayon Volcano where a Cessna plane crashed on Feb 18. They started retrieving the bodies of the four victims on March 2. — CESSNA 340A INCIDENT COMMAND POST

LEGAZPI CITY (Philippine Daily Inquirer/Asia News Network): Three of the four bodies of victims of Cessna plane crash were retrieved and dropped off at the base of Mayon Volcano after almost 12 days of operations.

The first body was brought down past 6pm on Wednesday (March 1), near the command post in Barangay Anoling after almost five hours of continuous relay of the responders composed of mountaineers, government personnel, residents and other volunteers.

Camalig Mayor Carlos Irwin Baldo Jr said, in a Facebook post, that the second body was dropped off at 1.07am Thursday, and the third was at 3.13am.

The teams carrying the remains of the last victim were expected to arrive within the day.

The Cessna plane carrying the pilot, Captain Rufino James Crisostomo Jr, mechanic Joel Martin, and Australian passengers Simon Chipperfield and Karthi Santhanam went missing on Feb 18.

The crash site was found 350m from the summit crater of the volcano.