MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A United States military plane hit a concrete barrier while attempting to take off from a road during contingency training in the Philippines, injuring all five American personnel aboard, Philippine officials said Wednesday.
The pilot and two other American personnel were brought to a hospital for treatment after Tuesday afternoon’s incident in a concrete bypass road in Laoac town in the northern Pangasinan province. Two other injured personnel were treated at the site and the U.S. Air Force transport plane was damaged, police said in a report.
The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a brief statement sent to The Associated Press by email that two service members were transported to a medical facility for treatment.
“One of the individuals has been discharged while the other remains in medical care and is in stable condition,” the Hawaii-based command said, adding that no civilians were injured.
It did not comment on details provided by the Philippine police nor explain the discrepancy in the reported number of injured personnel and said the incident was being investigated.
The training, involving the plane 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. The training was meant to prepare military forces for contingencies, such as when regular airports and runways become inaccessible during typhoons and earthquakes.
The three officials, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the accident publicly, said the cause of the accident was under investigation. The aircraft managed to land during the “supervised activity,” but swerved during takeoff, one of the three officials said.
The U.S. military had deployed aircraft and personnel in the past to help deliver food, medicine and other humanitarian aid to Philippine provinces devastated by typhoons and other natural disasters.
U.S. forces are allowed to conduct training with Filipino counterparts in the Philippines under a 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement. Large-scale 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 U.S. 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.