Light plane crashes in south Philippines

Another light plane used for spraying pesticides on banana plantations crashed in southern Philippines over the weekend, police said Monday. Regional police spokesman Jed Clamor said the Cessna crop duster RPR-146 crashed at the edges of a banana plantation in Tagnanan village in Mabini town, Compostela Valley province at past 7 a.m. on Saturday. Police told Xinhua that the pilot was unhurt but the incident caused the destruction of 39 full-grown banana trees. "Four steel posts were hit by the plane and were damaged. The aircraft also sustained damages," Camilo Cascolan, police chief for Compostela Valley province, told Xinhua in a separate text message. Quoting local police, Clamor said the plane of the Philippine Aviation Agricultural Corporation was about to land after conducting spraying runs on the plantation owned by land reform beneficiaries when its engine faltered, forcing the pilot to crash land it at the plantation. Authorities said Saturday's accident was the third to happen in southern Mindanao, where aging crop dusters are frequently used to spray pesticides on over 50,000 hectares of banana plantations.