A Philippine Air Force C-130 plane with 96 passengers on board overshot the runway and crashed at Sulu airport in Mindanao last Sunday.
It was carrying troops heading to conduct counter-insurgency operations in the south. Fifty-two were killed including four civilians while 47 passengers were injured in the country’s worst air accident in recent memory.
Rescue workers arrive as smoke billows from the wreckage of a Philippine Air Force C-130 transport plane after it crashed near the airport in Jolo town, Sulu province, on the southern island of Mindanao on July 4. (Photo: AFP)
Filipinos prayed for the victims and offered condolences to their families. Bishop Oscar Jaime Florencio, the head of the Catholic Church of the Philippine military, celebrated a Mass on Monday for the victims’ eternal repose and for their families.
Meanwhile, Filipino Church officials have appealed to thousands of people not to return to their homes near an active volcano.
About 7,000 residents who live within a 7-kilometer “danger zone” of Taal volcano in Batangas province, south of capital Manila, have fled their homes since the volcano started spewing ashes and sulfur dioxide on July 1.
This picture taken on July 1 shows an eruption from the main crater of the Taal Volcano, which sits in a picturesque lake in Batangas province. (Photo: AFP)
The volcano was spewing an average of 22,628 tons of ash and sulfur dioxide gas each day, the highest ever recorded. The authorities warned this might be a prelude to a major eruption. Church officials have also appealed for more N95 masks for people and urged churchgoers to assist displaced people.
Taal volcano last erupted in January 2020, killing 39 people and forcing more than 376,000 to flee their homes.
A deadly outbreak of the Delta variant of Covid-19 in neighboring Indonesia has prompted Timor-Leste’s government to step up efforts to ward off a spillover into the country.
Timorese authorities have sealed off the border with Indonesia and asked people living near the border to be on alert for any illegal entries to the country. They vowed to take stern action against anyone crossing the border illegally.
Timor-Leste and Indonesian police patrol a border area. Timor-Leste has tightened security to prevent the entry of the Delta variant of the Covid-19 virus that has triggered a crisis in Indonesia. (Photo: Timor-Leste National Police)
Archbishop Virgilio Do Carmo Da Silva of Dili described the new variant of the coronavirus as “one of the greatest threats to the world” and urged the government to take maximum steps to prevent it. Despite endemic poverty and a poor healthcare system, the tiny Catholic-majority nation has registered only 9,594 cases and 25 deaths from the pandemic.
Meanwhile, the virus has wreaked havoc in Indonesia, which has recorded 2.38 million infections and 62,908 deaths.
Christians in Indonesia have dismissed an attack on a Protestant church as an act of Islamic extremism. On June 26, a man vandalized and set ablaze the Toraja Mamasa Church in Mamasa district of West Sulawesi province. The violence sparked speculation on social media that it was an attack on Christians by Muslim hardliners.
However, the Communion of Churches in Indonesia said on Tuesday that the act was carried out by an individual who was “mentally ill” and not a case of religious intolerance. Police said the 40-year-old suspect admitted to attacking the church after a dream in which his dead father told him his belongings had been stolen and taken to the church. Armed with a machete, he vandalized the interior and started a fire, which was put out by residents.
A policeman examines fire damage at the Toraja Mamasa Church in Mamasa district in Indonesia’s West Sulawesi province that was attacked on June 26. (Photo: YouTube)
Several recent terror attacks against Christians in Sulawesi have led to speculation about extremist links. On May 11, four Christian farmers including a Catholic were killed by Islamist extremists in Poso district of Central Sulawesi province.
On Palm Sunday, March 28, Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral in Makassar, capital of South Sulawesi province, was targeted by suicide bombers, leaving two bombers dead and at least 20 people injured.
Thousands of people in Thailand remain affected by toxic chemicals after a massive fire destroyed a chemical factory. The blaze started with a loud explosion in the early hours of Monday and engulfed the factory complex in Samut Prakan province, near Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport. It had some 50 tons of chemicals stored in six warehouses.
Following a day of frantic efforts, firefighters brought the blaze under control. One firefighter was killed during the operation. The fire consumed the entire factory complex and 40 people were injured. The toxic plumes of smoke affected some 80,000 people who live nearby, while many homes were damaged.
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