MANILA, April 8: Rescue workers said Wednesday there appeared to be no survivors after a Philippines government helicopter carrying some of President Gloria Arroyo´s closest aides crashed into a northern mountain range.
However, they said they had found only three bodies in the charred wreckage and couldn´t account for the other five that had reportedly been listed as being on board. [break]
Separately, television station ABS-CNN cited officials as saying all those on board had been found dead.
A shaken Arroyo had canceled her public engagements to oversee the search and rescue operation personally after the chopper went missing Tuesday, said Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita.
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The wreckage of the Bell 412 helicopter was found in the Cordillera mountain range of the northern Philippines, said provincial governor Teddy Baguilat.
He told local television that rescuers had found no survivors in or around the wreckage, near the remote town of Tinoc in Ifugao province.
"We have instructed the rescuers to bring the bodies to the town center," Baguilat said, adding that it was raining heavily.
The officials and crew listed as being aboard the chopper included Press Undersecretary Jose Capadocia, military aide Brig. Gen. Carlos Clet and Arroyo´s diary secretary.
"We found one body intact, apparently that of the pilot," Samuel Guyon of Tinoc police, a member of the rescue party, told DZBB radio by telephone.
He said that body parts, possibly of two people, were also found and "all were burned," but that they hadn´t located any of the other people.
The helicopter had been flying Arroyo´s aides to the province of Ifugao, which the president had been due to visit Wednesday.
"After the initial shock, she´s on top of the situation and is personally monitoring it and supervising the search and rescue operations," presidential spokesman Cerge Remonde said earlier, referring to the president.
"These are the people who work with the president every day," he said.
Police said the last communication with the helicopter was a mobile phone call from Capadocia who said it was too cloudy to land.
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