Air crash rescuers feted, pilot apologises

Five fishermen who rescued almost a dozen of the total 15 survivors of the ill-fated Laoag International Airlines Flight 585 that crashed in Manila Bay a week ago, were honoured by President Gloria Arroyo in ceremonies at the presidential palace yesterday.

Brothers Edgar and Crispulo Naga, Edgar's 12-year-old son, Elorde, and adopted son, Rico Cayabyab, 15, were extolled by Arroyo as "heroes of the nation" for saving passengers of Flight 585 and given cash rewards for their deeds.

"It's an early Christmas gift," Edgar told reporters in an interview as he referred to the P50,000 ($943) cash reward given by the President. He did not agree with being described as a hero.

"Heroes fight for their country; what we just did was rescue people," he said modestly.

The fishermen recounted to the President that they were already at sea on the way to a fishing area on that morning of November 11 when they saw the Laoag Air Fokker F-27 twin turboprop plane going down.

Crispulo said their immediate reaction was to approach the plane and rescue passengers. They said they were the first to arrive at the crash site and were able to pull at least 11 of the total 15 survivors from the sinking airplane.

Nineteen of the other passengers, including five Australians, either drowned or were fatally injured during the forced landing initiated by the pilots after one of the aircraft's two engines malfunctioned two minutes after it took off from the Manila Domestic Airport.

Fearing an explosion and afraid that the sinking plane might also pull their boat down, the four fishermen said they had to move out of the area quickly with some of the survivors.

Last Thursday, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), which organised search and rescue operations for Flight 585, celebrated a mass at the site of the crash, roughly six kilometres away from the domestic airport.

Aboard the ship, BRP Edsa II, the mass held a requiem for the casualties and honoured the rescuers for saving Flight 585 passengers.

Among those who responded to the crash were early morning joggers, swimmers, fishermen, PCG, PCG Auxiliary Corps and personnel of the Philippine Navy, Philippine National Police and Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).

Meanwhile, the pilot of the ill-fated Fokker-27 aircraft apologised yesterday to the families of the 19 of the 34 aboard who were killed in the crash.

"I did my best to glide the plane and ditch it safely on the water and I am sorry that I could not save everybody," said Bernie Crisostomo, pilot of the plane, in a radio interview.

Minutes after a take-off from the domestic airport in Pasay City, the plane reached an altitude of 121 meters and the Fokker's right engine sputtered, Crisostomo said, adding, "This forced me to attempt an emergency landing at a nearby airstrip (at the reclaimed area fronting the Manila Bay)."

"As I executed the bank to the left, and just before making the 180-degree change of direction, the left engine suddenly lost power," Crisostomo said.