MANILA: A United States military plane carrying five American personnel hit a concrete barrier while attempting to take off from a road during a contingency training in a northern Philippine province, injuring all those aboard, Philippine officials said Wednesday.
The pilot and two other American personnel were brought to a hospital for treatment after Tuesday afternoon’s accident in a concrete bypass road in Laoac town in Pangasinan province. Two other injured personnel were treated at the site, police said in an initial report.
The training that involved a US Air Force transport aircraft landing on and taking off from an “alternate landing zone” was planned and fully coordinated with Philippine civilian, police and military authorities, three Philippine officials said, adding that the cause of the accident was under investigation.
The three officials spoke to The AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the accident publicly.
The aircraft managed to land during the “supervised activity,” but swerved during takeoff, one of the three officials said, adding that such unique training was needed to brace military forces for all types of contingencies, including when regular airports and runways become inaccessible during typhoons and earthquakes.
US forces are allowed to conduct training with Filipino counterparts in the Philippines under a 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement.
Largescale joint combat training drills in recent years have focused on helping the Philippines defend its territorial interests and promote freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea, which lies west of Pangasinan.
Confrontations between the coast guard and naval forces of China and the Philippines have flared in recent years in the disputed waters, which is claimed largely by Beijing.
Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan are also involved in the long-simmering territorial standoffs.
The US does not lay any claims in the contested waters but has repeatedly warned that it’s obligated to defend the Philippines under a mutual defense treaty if Philippine forces, ships and aircraft come under an armed attack, including in the South China Sea.
US military plane hits road barrier during Philippine training, injuring 5 personnel
https://arab.news/gf8wc
US military plane hits road barrier during Philippine training, injuring 5 personnel
- The aircraft managed to land during the ‘supervised activity,’ but swerved during takeoff
Rubio meets Caribbean leaders as US raises pressure on Cuba
Basseterre: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will seek to address Caribbean leaders' concerns about Cuba at a summit on Wednesday, as Washington ramps up pressure on the communist island fresh after removing Venezuela's president.
Rubio, a Cuban-American who has spent his political career hoping to topple Havana's government, is also looking for sustained cooperation on Venezuela and troubled Haiti as he takes part in the summit of the Caribbean Community, or CARICOM, which does not include Cuba.
After attending President Donald Trump's State of the Union address to Congress, Rubio flew overnight to join the summit in Saint Kitts and Nevis, a sun-kissed former British colony of fewer than 50,000 people.
Rubio became the highest-ranking US official ever to visit the tiny country, the birthplace of one of the United States' founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton.
Trump has reoriented foreign policy toward the Western Hemisphere through his "Donroe Doctrine" in which he has vowed unrepentant intervention to advance US interests.
After US forces snatched Venezuela's leftist leader Nicolas Maduro in a January 3 raid, the Latin American country has been forced to cut off its crucial oil shipments to Cuba.
This has plunged Cuba into a further economic morass with fuel shortages and rolling blackouts.
Speaking at the opening of the CARICOM summit on Tuesday, Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness warned that a further deterioration in Cuba will impact stability across the Caribbean and trigger migration -- the top political concern for Trump.
"Humanitarian suffering serves no one," Holness said. "A prolonged crisis in Cuba will not remain confined to Cuba."
Plea for 'stability'
Holness said that Jamaica believed in democracy and free markets -- a rebuke to the communist system in Havana -- but called for "humanitarian relief" for Cubans.
"Jamaica supports constructive dialogue between Cuba and the United States aimed at de-escalation, reform and stability," he said.
"We believe there is space, perhaps more space now than in years past, for pragmatic engagement."
The summit's host, Saint Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Terrance Drew, also called for humanitarian backing to Cuba, saying: "A destabilized Cuba will destabilize all of us."
A medical doctor, Drew studied for seven years in Cuba and said friends there have told him of food scarcity, power outages and garbage strewn in the streets.
"I can only feel the pain of those who treated me so well when I was a student," he said.
The United States has imposed sanctions on Cuba almost continuously since Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution.
Since becoming the top US diplomat, Rubio has publicly toned down calls for regime change, and Washington has quietly held discussions with Havana.
Trump and Rubio have threatened sanctions against countries that sell oil to Cuba but stopped short of enacting some measures pushed by Cuban-American hardline critics of Havana, such as prohibiting the transfer of remittances.
'Elephant in the room'
Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, said she empathized with the Cuban people but took issue with her Jamaican counterpart's remarks.
"We cannot advocate for others to live under communism and dictatorship," she said.
She also criticized CARICOM countries for their reticence, at least publicly, to back what she called the "elephant in the room" -- US intervention in Venezuela.
Trinidad and Tobago, whose coast is visible from Venezuela, gave access to the US military in the run-up to the operation that removed Maduro.
The deposed Venezuelan leader faces US charges of narco-trafficking, which he denies.
Persad-Bissessar thanked Trump, Rubio "and the US military... for standing firm against narco-trafficking, human and arms smuggling."
The Trump administration has been carrying out deadly strikes against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean, drawing criticism by those who say the attacks are legally and ethically dubious.
The Trinidadian prime minister praised the US approach and credited it with bringing down her country's homicide rate by helping cut the flow of firearms from Venezuela.
