Chopper falls from the sky!

Kills four

May 17, 2010

Lucena City - A private helicopter with registry number RP-C2550 and carrying Quezon Gov. Rafael Nantes has crashed in Lucena City Monday afternoon killing all 4 people on board.

The victims were identified as Gov. Nantes, pilot Capt. Nestor Sanchez and security guards Fred Dominguez and a certain PO1 Lucero.

The two other fatalities were civilians who was hit by a falling chopper that consequently caused fire to two houses at Jaen Subdivision in Lucena.

The Robinson 44 Raven II type helicopter with msn 11689 was operated by Lion Air. It took off at the general aviation hangar in Manila around 7:21 a.m. with a flight plan for Manila-Lucena-Manila.

Initial reports points to mechanical failure as cause of the crash after the helicopter took off at around 3:10 p.m. It fell about a kilometer from the takeoff point 5 minutes later.