INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
A United States military-contracted airplane crashed in a rice field in the southern Philippines Thursday, eliminating all four individuals
on board, United States Embassy and Philippine officials said.The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines verified the crash of a light
plane in Maguindanao del Sur province
It did not immediately supply other details.The plane that crashed in the southern province was contracted by the United States military,
United States Embassy representative Kanishka Gangopadhyay told The Associated Press, adding that the United States Indo-Pacific Command
will release a more comprehensive declaration on the plane crash.The bodies of 4 people who appeared to be foreign nationals were retrieved
from the wreckage in Ampatuan town, said Ameer Jehad Tim Ambolodto, a security officer of Maguindanao del Sur.Windy Beaty, a provincial
disaster-mitigation officer, told the AP that she received reports that homeowners saw smoke coming from the plane and heard an explosion
before the airplane plummeted to the ground less than a kilometer (about half a mile) from a cluster of farmhouses.Nobody was reported hurt
on or near the crash website, which was cordoned off by troops, Beaty said.A water buffalo on the ground was likewise killed as a result of
the plane crash, regional officials said.United States forces have actually been released in a Philippine military camp in the countrys
south for years to assist offer encourage and training to Filipino forces battling Muslim militants
The area is the homeland of minority Muslims in the mainly Roman Catholic nation.Source: AP-- Agencies
