Rescue divers from the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and Philippine Navy (PN), together with some personnel from the United States Navy, have already located ill-fated Navy helicopter that crashed near Santa Cruz Islands in Zamboanga City.

However, they failed to recover the two missing pilots.

Commodore Rodolfo Isorena, PCG-Zamboanga District Commander, said the combined team of rescue divers late Tuesday afternoon already discovered the location of the PN-Helo Chopper (PNH411) however, they still failed to find the missing pilots Lt. Junior Grade Tristan Joseph Corpuz and Lt. Junior-Grade Gerald Tamayo.

Lt. JG Corpuz was the son of Coast Guard Commodore Danilo Corpuz.

Isorena said the US troops participating in the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines (JSOFTP) together with PCG and PN personnel along Caldera Bay also decided to temporarily halt the joint exercise and decided to join the search and rescue (SAR) efforts to help their Navy counterpart.

Lt. Commander Armand Balilo, PCG Public Information Officer, said they have received orders from the Coast Guard Commandant himself, Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo “to assist their brothers in the Navy at all cause.”

Balilo said that eight teams of Special Operations Group (SOG) divers onboard SAR vessel BRP-Edsa Dos which is also currently participating in JSOFTP exercises were dispatched along Greater and Lesser Santa Cruz Islands to search for the missing pilots. He added that the PCG also lends some of its rubber boats to the Navy to speed up the SAR operations.

BRP-Edsa Dos also served as the oxygen refilling station for the Coast Guard, RP-Navy and US Navy rescue divers.