Eight people were killed Thursday when an air force plane crashed in a residential area in the southern Philippines, dpa quoted officials as saying. Lieutenant General Raymundo Ferrer, a regional military commander, said the Nomad plane had taken off from the airport in Cotabato City, 960 kilometers south of Manila. Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema said that based on initial reports from the accident site, eight bodies were pulled from the crashed plane. The passengers included Lieutenant General Butch Lacson, an air force commander, Ferrer said. Ferrer added that the plane hit at least three houses when it crashed in near a government compound in the city. "Upon impact, the plane burst into flames," he said. "At least three houses were hit in the crash that triggered a blaze." There have been no reports so far whether people on the ground had been killed or injured, and the cause of the accident was still being investigated. "The plane was flying in a zigzag before it crashed," Sema said, citing witnesses.
