The six-man Naval Special Operations Group team that has joined the search for the Air Force OV-10 Bronco that crashed off Palawan last Sunday will use an underwater camera when they try to locate the fuselage of the downed aircraft and its two pilots.
“The underwater camera was lent to us by the Department of Science and Technology. As of today, our technical divers are diving (at) all the detected sites where the sonar detected the wrecks hoping that one of (these is)…the OV10’s fuselage. I’m still waiting for updates from the team leader and commanding officer of the BRP Mangyan, who supervises the search-and-retrieval operation,” Brigadier General Conrado Parra Jr., commander of the 507th Composite tactical Wing and head of Task Force Bronco, said in a phone interview.
The BRP Mangyan (AS71) is skippered by Commander Carlo Lagasca.
The sonar Parra referred to is a portable detector the Air Force hired from a Cebu-based company. Earlier this week, it detected an object on the seabed authorities hope is the plane’s fuselage.
Military officials have said the two missing pilots, Major Jonathan Ybanez and 1st Lieutenant Abner Trust Nacion, could still be trapped in the plane’s cockpit.
Meanwhile, Parra said they have submitted to the Department of Foreign Affairs a request for a search and rescue team from the joint US-Philippine military exercise, Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training, which is taking place in Zambales.
Parra said the BRP Mangyan is capable of lifting and towing the downed plane’s fuselage once it is located.
“We’ve no problem in lifting and towing the fuselage. All we need is technical equipment to locate the wreck,” Parra said.
According to the Navy, the BRP Mangyan was also involved in the retrieval of the plane in which the late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo died when it crashed off Masbate, and that of an Air Force SF260 trainer that crashed off La Monja Island near Corregidor.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/65202/navy-divers-use-underwater-camera-to-search-for-downed-ov10
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