GENERAL SANTOS CITY–A private helicopter used in spraying pesticides crash-landed in an upland village of T’boli town in South Cotabato on Monday morning. An official said the lone pilot manning it only sustained minor injuries.
Chief Insp Ramil Villagracia, chief of the T’boli municipal police station, said Monday the chopper was passing by the mountainous portion of the municipality at around 9:45 a.m. when it crashed at the vicinity of Sitio Upper Bianan, Barangay Basag.
He said its pilot was identified as Capt. Reynaldo Acosta, the husband of Davao City Councilor Mabel Sunga-Acosta.
“He was the only one at the helicopter during the incident,” he said in a radio interview.
Milagros Lorca, Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) head, said the helicopter sprayer was on its way to Barangay Kling in Kiamba, Sarangani to conduct aerial spraying when it crashed.
She said the chopper, owned by Vibrant Helicopters Agricultural Spray Corporation based in Davao City, came from the base of the Lapanday banana plantation in Tampakan, South Cotabato to refuel.
Personnel from the PDRRMO, Municipal DRRM Councils of Polomolok and Tboli towns, Philippine Red Cross and the South Cotabato Search and Rescue team responded at the crash site, she said.
She added that the pilot was airlifted to Davao City by the Philippine Air Force at around 2 p.m. (PNA)
