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MANILA (4th UPDATE) — All 6 people on board a Cessna plane that went missing in mountainous Isabela province in January died, authorities said Thursday, as they announced the discovery of the aircraft's wreckage after more than a month of grueling search.

Constante Foronda, head of the Isabela Incident Management Team (IMT), said all 5 passengers and the pilot of the Cessna 206 plane died in the crash.

"There were no survivors," he said. "We delayed this briefing until all the relatives of the passengers and the pilot have been informed."

A search team found the plane within the 20-kilometer radius of the Maconacon airport, its supposed destination on Jan. 24, the Isabela IMT said.

• Cessna plane goes missing after takeoff from Cauayan

The plane had taken off from Cauayan airport on a route that would have taken it across the Sierra Madre mountain range, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) earlier said.

The plane failed to respond half an hour after it was supposed to land, the industry regulator said.

RETRIEVAL OPERATIONS

Rescuers in Isabela estimate it would take up to 3 days to recover and bring down the remains of the passengers and the pilot, a local disaster official said.

"Expected sir bukas sila makakarating sa area, not sure kung anong time. Basta expected natin na maibaba yong mga bodies po dito is within 3 days from now po," said Engr. Ezikiel Chavez, Divilacan municipal disaster risk reduction management officer.

(They are expected to reach the area tomorrow, we're not sure about the time. We only expect that the bodies will be brought down here within 3 days from now.)

Chavez said the plane was discovered at around 11 a.m. Thursday by a composite team from neighboring Maconacon guided by a member of the Dumagat tribe from Divilacan.

The bodies were immediately identified because the team knew the passengers.

The team will encounter challenges that could delay the retrieval of the bodies, Foronda said.

"Weather at tsaka po ‘yong terrain talaga ang challenges. Wala pong lugar na patag. Kung hindi po pababa ay pataas. Puro puno, walang dire-diretsong lakad ‘yong ating mga retrieval operators o retrieval personnel, kailangan iwasan ang mga puno," Foronda said.

"Walang established path doon sa lugar na ‘yon, especially mayroon silang dala-dalang labi ng pasahero at piloto kaya matatagalan ang kanilang pagbaba."

(The challenges are really the weather and the terrain. There is no place that is flat. It's full of trees, our retrieval operators or retrieval personnel won't walk on a straight path, you have to avoid the trees. There is no established path in that area, especially because they will carry the remains of the passengers and pilots, so it will take a long time for them to get down.)

• Bad weather, difficult landscape slow down search for missing Cessna plane

MIXED EMOTIONS

The crash victims include Captain Eleazar Mark Joven and passengers Josefa Perla Espana, 59; Val Kamatoy, 34; Mark Eiron Siguerra, 21; and two boys aged 16 and 10.

Anna May Kamatoy, mother of 2 of the passengers and aunt and sister to 2 others, said she was on her way to the crash site after receiving the news.

"'Di ko alam kung ano’ng feeling e, pero naiiyak na masaya rin, mga ganitong feeling," she told ABS-CBN News on the phone.

(I don't know what kind of feeling it is, but I'm emotional and happy, these kinds of feelings.)

Authorities have yet to provide photos of the wreckage, but initial descriptions of the site revealed the plane had separated into several parts.

"Hindi siya buo, hiwa-hiwalay po siya, may mga nakasabit, may nasa lupa, so nasa slope po siya," Chavez said.

(It wasn't found intact, it was in pieces; some were hanging, some were on the ground, and it was on a slope.)

INVESTIGATION

The bodies will be brought first to Cauayan City where a forensic investigation could also be done for further identification of the remains, Foronda said.

The wreckage, he said, would remain untouched pending the investigation of the CAAP, Foronda said.

Investigators from the CAAP Aircraft Accident Investigation and Inquiry Board (AAIIB) are already on site to confirm the wreckage, said agency spokesperson Eric Apolonio.

"Official confirmation regarding the Cessna aircraft will come from the Aircraft Accident Investigation and Inquiry Board (AAIIB) investigators on the ground," he said in a text message to ABS-CBN News.

"If the aircraft sighting is indeed that of the missing Cessna, the family of the passengers will be informed first before it is released publicly as the information is considered confidential under the Data Privacy Act."

OTHER AVIATION MISHAPS

The discovery of the missing Cessna plane in Isabela came more than a week after a medical evacuation flight with 5 persons aboard went missing on its way to Palawan.

Possible debris from the aircraft was reportedly found, while those aboard remained missing.

• Medical helicopter on way to Palawan with 5 on board reported missing - CAAP

On Feb. 18, a Cessna 340 plane carrying 4 people, including 2 Australians, crashed on the active Mayon volcano. All 4 died.

• Remains of Cessna plane crash victims in Albay retrieved: officials

In a separate incident, 2 Philippine air force aviators were killed in a training exercise in January when their SF260 Marchetti plane crashed into a rice paddy in Bataan province, near Manila.

• Air Force: Probe on Bataan military plane crash to take weeks

The CAAP earlier said that all Cessna planes in the Philippines passed government requirements before they were allowed to fly.

• Ban Cessna? CAAP says all 151 Cessna planes in PH 'fully compliant'
• CAAP says no reason to ground Cessna planes in PH

— With reports from Harris Julio, Jacque Manabat, Anjo Bagaoisan, and Rowegie Abanto, ABS-CBN News; Agence France-Presse

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