A Philippine presidential helicopter with two pilots and five officials on board is missing after taking off from the northern Philippine city of Baguio Tuesday afternoon, the military said.
The Bell 412 helicopter took off from Baguio around 4:15 p.m. local time (0815 GMT) and was supposed to arrive Ifugao Province about an hour later, said Brig. Gen. Lino Horacio Lapinid, commander of the 1st Air Division of the Philippine Air Force.
He said the officials were due to accompany President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in her visit to a highway project in Ifugao on Wednesday.
"We have no contact (with the aircraft). It might have landed somewhere where there is no signal. We are searching for it," said Lapinid.
On the possibility that the helicopter crashed, Lapinid said: " We'll know it tomorrow."
"We are checking if there is landing in the provinces," he said.
"As of now, we cannot dispatch aircraft (for search) because its already night, maybe tomorrow morning," he said.
Air Force spokesman Major Gerardo Zamudio Jr. said bad weather in Ifugao province may have caused the helicopter to go missing.
Local TV network GMA News reported that eight people were on board the aircraft, including Press Undersecretary Jose Capadocia.
Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said that President Arroyo was " visibly shaken" upon learning of the missing chopper. He said they would review whether the President's inspection of the project would push through on Wednesday.
"We still hope for the best. We still hope that the chopper landed safely in an area where there is no cellphone contact," he said.
(Xinhua News Agency April 8, 2009)
