Philippine air force plane crash kills 9 crew

MANILA (Reuters) - A Philippine air force transport plane crashed into the sea minutes after it took off and there were no survivors among the two pilots and seven crew members aboard, the air force said on Tuesday.

The C-130 plane took off from Davao airport in the south on Monday evening and radio contact was lost 10 minutes later, air force chief Lieutenant-General Pedrito Cadungog told reporters.

"We recovered one body belonging to the crew of the missing aircraft," Cadungog said, confirming that the C-130 Hercules plane had crashed into the Davao Gulf.

"Fishermen and residents in a coastal village in Davao City have turned in some parts of the aircraft, including a wheel. A flight manual from the C-130 and other documents were among those items turned over," he said.

Earlier, he said two pairs of combat boots, documents and aircraft debris were found by fishermen, including identification cards and cash.

"We have not found the aircraft body but we already know the general area where it crashed," Major Gerardo Zamudio told reporters.

Zamudio said several fishermen were helping the coast guard recover bodies and debris.

The plane brought about 80 army rangers from a base in the northern Philippines before departing from Davao City to pick up soldiers on the central island of Iloilo.

The Philippines had five Hercules C-130 transport planes, but only two were operational and the rest under repair. The heavy-lift planes, manufactured in the early 1970s, were all acquired from the United States through a military aid program.

(Reporting by Manny Mogato; Editing by Paul Tait)

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