An investigation was underway into the cause of the crash

The aircraft- SF-260 TP Marchetti was on a training flight from the Sangley airport in the Cavite province when it was seen going down into a paddy field in the Bataan province.

Two pilots of the Philippine Air Force were killed after their trainer aircraft crashed on Wednesday (January 25). According to the air force, the SF-260 TP Marchetti was on a training flight from the Sangley airport in the Cavite province when it was seen going down into a paddy field in the Bataan province (northwest of the capital city of Manila) 40 minutes after takeoff, news agency Reuters reported. The air force said an investigation was underway into the cause of the crash, adding, it had temporarily grounded the fleet of SF-260 TP trainer aircraft.

Police investigator Edgardo Delos Santos told the news agency Associated Press that the bodies of the two pilots were pulled from the wreckage and that witnesses saw the aircraft rapidly descending apparently out of control before crashing in. Further details on the crash are awaited.

The SF-260 TP has been in operation in the country since the 1970s and has served as a light attack combat aircraft. The aircraft was deployed during airstrikes on southern Marawi City after it was taken over in 2017 by militants loyal to Islamic State (IS), the Reuters report said.

In separate news, the Philippines Civil Aviation Authority said on Wednesday that a single-engine Cessna aircraft carrying six people lost contact with an airport tower about four minutes after take-off on a 30-minute flight in the northern Isabela province on Tuesday, the Associated Press report said. The authority said that full-scale search and rescue operations were continuing but it did not identify those aboard the aircraft. The air force, meanwhile, said that its helicopters could not join the operations due to bad weather.