A Cessna 206 plane missing since Jan. 24 was found by a team from the Maconacon Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (MDRRMO) on Thursday, the Isabela Incident Management Team said.

In a virtual press conference, Constante Foronda, head of the Isabela Incident Management Team said the team had found the plane in Barangay Ditarum between 11:00 and 11:30 am after 44 days of searching.

“Sadly, there were no survivors,” Foronda said.

Foronda said they have informed the relatives of the passengers and the pilot of their death.

According to Ezekiel Chavez of MDRRMO Divilacan, it would take around three days to bring down the cadavers from the crash site.

“In my estimate, it would take approximately three days from now because there are rescuers there that are on their way up now. Actually, they cannot reach the location yet. Tomorrow, they will be able to reach the location. From tomorrow, they will prepare to bring down the bodies of the pilot and the passengers,” Chavez told reporters.

He said the wreckage of the plane was spotted within a 20-kilometer radius of the Maconacon cell site.

On January 24, the plane which had six people on board was reported missing after it left Cauayan Domestic Airport and was supposed to arrive in Maconacon.

The search and rescue operations have been changed to retrieval operations, Foronda said.

“We will direct all searchers that are near the area to help in the retrieval. After that, once we bring down the remains of the pilot and the passengers, we will begin the mobilization process. Most of them will travel by boat. It would be hard to bring all the rescuers there by flight. The mobilization will be done by boat from Maconacon, Sta. Ana,” Foronda said.

Chavez said that the person who witnessed the wreckage of the Cessna plane saw that the parts were scattered and clothes were hanging on trees.

Foronda said the remains of the plane crash victims will be brought to Cayauan and placed in a funeral parlor. Jaspearl Tan/DMS