Three injured in Zest Air plane crash in Caticlan airport

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Three passengers were injured after a Zest Air (formerly Asian Spirit) plane crashed Sunday morning at the Caticlan airport.

Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines Director General Ben Ciron said that the airline's ZEST MA60 Aircraft Flight 865 undershot the Caticlan airport runway, leaving two children and one crew member injured.

"About 0657 am today, ZEST MA60 Aircraft Flight 865 undershot runway at Caticlan airport with 22 adult pax 2 children 1 staff member. No passengers suffered major injuries," Ciron said in a text message.

Reports said that strong winds caused the aircraft's landing gear to explode, hitting the barrier of the Caticlan airport at around 6:40 a.m. Sunday. After swerving 180 degrees, the plane was said to have crashed into the airport's passenger lounge.

The Caticlan runway was closed because of the incident, causing a Cebu Pacific ATR aircraft to be grounded in the Caticlan airport.

In the meantime, flights to and from Caticlan will continue to operate from Kalibo airport until further notice.

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ILOILO CITY, Philippines – Twenty-six persons were injured when a Zest Air plane carrying passengers bound for Boracay Island undershot the runway as it was about to land at the Caticlan airport in Malay town, Aklan province Sunday morning.
Except for a passenger who suffered a fractured collarbone, the passengers and a few airport personnel suffered only minor injuries. But the incident forced the closure of the airport for more than five hours.

One passenger, Rowena Versoza, 40, suffered broken bones and a cut to the head. She was taken for treatment at the Aklan Baptist Hospital in Caticlan along with the other injured, said Inspector Lory Tarazona, police chief of Malay town, said in a phone interview.
Three of the injured were airport personnel who were hit by debris when the plane crashed against the concrete perimeter fence.
The plane left Manila around 6:10 a.m., carrying 22 passengers including two children bound for Boracay and with three crewmembers.
The passengers included two Korean and two German tourists.
The 72-seater RPC 8993 plane piloted by Captain Vicente Gazo undershot Runway 06 when it landed at 6:58 a.m., Tarazona said, quoting from a report of the Air Transportation Office (ATO) in Caticlan.

The plane swerved sharply to the left when it touched the runway after the initial impact and hit a concrete barrier seriously damaging its nose. The plane's landing gears and propellers also suffered major damage.
Police and airport personnel who responded to the accident evacuated the passengers and crew to the hospital.
Except for Versoza, the injured passengers suffered cuts and bruises and were immediately released after they were treated, Tarazona said.
The airport was closed to all incoming and outgoing flights because the plane blocked the 30-meter wide and 950-meter long tarmac.
All incoming flights were diverted to the airport at the capital town of Kalibo until the Caticlan airport was re-opened at around 12:30 p.m. Sunday.
The airline company said its safety officer had been coordinating with the ATO to investigate the cause of the accident.
"It's an unfortunate incident and we are relieved that there is no fatality. We will wait for the result of the investigation," said Zest Air director Arturo Alejandrino, in a phone interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer

The company offered to shoulder all medical expenses and all necessary assistance to the passengers and crew, including the transfer of Versoza to a hospital in Manila.
Four of the passengers opted to return to Manila but most of the others proceeded to Boracay, said Alejandrino.
The airport in Caticlan, the jump-off point to Boracay, is one of the busiest in the country. It averaged 18 incoming and 18 outgoing flights daily, servicing around 1,200 passengers in 2008 but the volume nearly doubled during Boracay's peak season starting October until summer.

The safety of the airport has been a concern because of the volume of traffic relative to the size of the runway and because airlines have been operating bigger planes in their Caticlan routes. The airport is flanked by a hill on one side and one end of the runway is near the sea.
Alan Java, chief of the Aerodome Development and Management Service division of ATO and the former Western Visayas area manager of the agency, said there was a recommendation to extend the runway and to level the hill to maximize the runway area.

[MapLand]

Caticlan airport reopens

MANILA, Philippines -- The Caticlan Airport, the nearest airport to the popular Boracay beach, has resumed normal operations Monday afternoon, Tourism Secretary Ace Durano said.

The airport, Durano said, resumed operations at 12:30 p.m. Monday.

The airport was closed on Sunday after a Zest Air plane overshot the runway due to strong winds. Twenty-seven passengers and crew members sustained minor injuries in the incident.

"We assure tourists that airport authorities have carried out rigorous runway inspections to ensure safety of the airport for take-off and landing," Durano said.

"We also received reports that foreign tourists which included Germans James Tauerman and Bernd Doehler, Canadian Mark Samson and Koreans Jun Sun and Koi Dyu continued their holiday in Boracay shortly after they were treated for minor cuts and bruises, he said.

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