US Military-Contracted Plane Crashes in Southern Philippines, At Least Four Dead

Manila: A US military-contracted plane crashed in a rice field in southern Philippines on Thursday, killing all four people aboard, according to US Embassy and Philippine officials.

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines confirmed the crash of a light plane in Maguindanao del Sur province but did not provide further details.

The plane that crashed in the southern province was contracted by the U.S. military, U.S. Embassy spokesperson Kanishka Gangopadhyay told The Associated Press, adding that the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command will issue a statement on the plane crash.

The bodies of four people who appeared to be foreign nationals were retrieved from the wreckage, said Ameer Jehad Tim Ambolodto, a safety officer of Maguindanao del Sur.

A water buffalo on the ground was also killed as a result of the plane crash, local officials said.

U.S. forces have been deployed in a Philippine military camp in the country's south for decades to help provide advise and training to Filipino forces battling Muslim militants. The region is the homeland of minority Muslims in the largely Roman Catholic nation.

(with agency inputs)