Death toll from C-130 plane crash climbs to 52 –DND's Lorenzana

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana announced on Monday that the death toll from the Sulu C-130 plane crash had risen to 52 - 49 soldiers and three civilians - with 47 servicemen and four civilians injured.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said they have yet to make public the names of the fatalities in the plane crash pending the identification of the bodies.

AFP spokesman Major General Edgard Arevalo said military pilots would assist in the crash investigation.

Meanwhile, in Chino Gaston's "24 Oras" report, several families were hoping that their loved ones were among the survivors as authorities continued to identify the bodies retrieved from the incident.

Razel Maestro, the wife of one of the reported casualties in the crash, still believed that her husband Sergeant Butch Maestro survived the crash.

"Kasi hindi pa namin talaga nakikita kung ano ba to. 'Yun na ba talaga? Kaya parang hindi pa namin matanggap na may mga condolences," Maestro said.

(We are still in disbelief. That is why we cannot accept these condolences.)

On Sunday, a Philippine Air Force C-130 was about to land in Barangay Bangkal, Patikul in Sulu when it crashed at 11:30 a.m.  — Consuelo Marquez/DVM, GMA News