Philippine air crash not reported in US....report out of Bulgaria...
Philippine police investigators gather evidence from the remains of a Russian cargo plane Antonov 12BP, operated by Pacific East Asia Cargo Airline, that crashed in a rice paddy in Mexico, Pampanga in northern Philippines April 22, 2010
A Bulgarian national has died in an airplane crash in the Philippines on April 22 2010, caused by an electrical fire, international media reported.
The cargo plane's pilots subsequently tried to land the aircraft in a rice field as the plane was engulfed by flames, but the emergency landing proved to be fatal for three out of the six crew, Philippine authorities said.
Among the three dead were two Russians and one Bulgarian ground engineer.
The Russian-made Antonov-12 was conducting a flight from Mactan in the central Philippines and crashed late on April 22, local time, in the field about 35 kilometres south of Clark airport, which served in the past as a U.S air base near Manila, said Alfonso Cusi, director-general of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, cited by Philippine media.
Immediately after the crash, local villagers rushed to the scene and managed to rescue three crew members - two Russians and an Uzbek, who suffered bruises and were brought to a hospital.
Firefighters struggled to extinguish the flames that engulfed the aircraft which had exploded on impact, said police chief inspector Carlito Fabro.
According to Bulgarian media, the Bulgarian who died in the accident was identified as Tsvitoslav Guechevski. The other two fatalities were Russians Vadim Yakimov and Mikolay Bannon.
The three men who survived the crash were Russian pilot Yuri Tuchony, the second pilot, also a Russian, was Dmitriy Struminski and Uzbek Bokhadir Ruziev.
"They had a technical problem, and a fire broke out inside the plane," Cusi told the Associated Press. "Their communication signal suddenly got garbled, then the plane disappeared in the radar."
Police quoted the Russian pilot as saying that the plane encountered electric circuit trouble about an hour into the flight, and a fire that broke out forced him to make an emergency landing on the open field.
According to international media reports, the plane was chartered by shipping company UPS Inc. from its owner, Interisland Airlines of the Philippines, police said.
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