By Gabriela Baron
Due to unfavorable weather and slippery terrain of Mayon Volcano, rescuers are having a hard time transporting the remains of Cessna 340 passengers.
Bodies of the four passengers onboard the aircraft were successfully recovered on Saturday, Feb. 25, a week after Cessna 340 was reported missing.
“Responders are struggling to carry the [four] retrieved bodies due to the unfavorable weather and the steep and slippery terrain of Mayon,” Camalig Mayor Carlos Baldo Jr. said in a Facebook post.
“As relaying the bodies through the anchor system depicts difficulty in rope management because of the volcano’s high-angle slopes, the Incident Management Team proposed 20 personnel per body as one of their alternative measures to relay down the bodies for 200 to 300 meters and will be hoisted as the team locates a safe landing zone,” Baldo added.
Responders were utilizing anchor bolts in relaying the bodies down the slopes of Mayon Volcano, according to the mayor.
Members of the retrieval operations recovered on Friday the belongings of the passengers including identification cards, cash, mobile phones, and a laptop.
Cessna 340 was carrying four passengers, a pilot, a crew, and two Australian nationals.
