Search for Sec. Jesse Robredo, two others continues; More plane crash debris found

On Saturday, August 18, GMA News Online reported: "A small plane carrying Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo, who was on his way home to Naga from a conference in Cebu, crashed in the sea near the coast of Masbate province." Robredo’s aide, Chief Inspector Jun Abrazado, survived the crash. Robredo and the plane’s two pilots-Capt. Jessup Bahinting and Nepalese Kshitz Chand-have been missing since then.

On Sunday, August 19, InterAksyon.com reported that "sonar detectors deployed at the scene of [the] massive search and rescue [operations] detected what is being described as the wreckage of  the Piper Seneca plane."  The report further noted: "At least 50 specialized divers are on the scene, part of an over-200 composite team from various agencies that resumed the search and rescue."

For more on this story, GMA News Online and InterAksyon.com.