BAGAC, Bataan, Philippines – An aging Philippine Air Force (PAF) fighter plane crashed and then exploded in waters off a beach resort here on Thursday afternoon, killing both the pilot and his co-pilot, authorities reported yesterday.

Senior Superintendent Arnold Gunnacao, Bataan Police Provincial Office (PPO) director, identified the fatalities as Major Ephraim G. Suyom and his co-pilot Lt. Raymund de Leon, a native of Balanga City.

The deaths were confirmed by search-and-retrieval teams of the PAF and the Coast Guard Special Operations Group (CGSOG) after body parts of De Leon were found at 6:45 a.m. yesterday.

Suyom’s remains were retrieved earlier, soon after the crash.

Both are military pilots were assigned to the Air Defense Wing based at Basa Airbase in Floridablanca, Pampanga.

Their PAF S211 airplane went down at 3:15 p.m. Thursday about 100 meters off the shore of Stella Maris Resort in Barangay Banawang, here.

“The plane exploded into pieces giving the pilots no chance of bailing out with their parachutes. Witnesses told us the plane was flying low. They had no chance to bail out before the crash,” said Senior Inspector Alfredo Solomon, chief of police of Bagac.

Local newsman Butch Gunio said it appeared that the PAF plane was on a training mission because it flew back and forth over the beach area.

Gunnacao confirmed that De Leon, a member of Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class 2000, had just graduated as a pilot.

Lieutenant Commander Algier Ricafrente, Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Public Affairs chief, said the retrieval operations has been difficult for the team of Lieutenant Senior Grade Geronimo Tuvilla because the victim’s bodies had been ripped apart by the explosion.

Gunnacao said families of both victims were already in the area, awaiting the conclusion of the work of Scene-of-the-Crime Operatives (SOCO) at a cordoned area at the beach.

Solomon explained that the SOCO team was carefully identifying the body parts of the victims to avoid getting them mixed up. (With reports by Freddie C. Velez and John Carlo M. Cahinhinan)