Worst Air Accidents

Worst Air Accidents

On April 19, 2000, some 131 people were killed when a commercial airplane from Manila crashed in Samal Island, Davao del Norte province (southern Mindanao). All the passengers and crew, including four infants, of Air Philippines Boeing 737-200 (Flight 541 from Manila) died in what is now considered the worst air tragedy in the Philippines.

A local commercial flight bound for northern Luzon crashed into Manila Bay seven minutes after takeoff in the morning of November 11, 2002, leaving 19 people including six foreign tourists dead. Ten people survived.

Worst Terrorist Attacks

Worst Terrorist Attacks

No one thought that banditry still exists in the modern era. In April 1995, the Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf (Bearers of the Sword) group raided the Christian town of Ipil in Zamboanga del Norte province and burned all its houses and establishments. The group also shot dead at least 54 residents of the town. The worst terrorist attack in Metro Manila took place on December 30, 2000, which was a holiday (Rizal Day). A series of bombings rocked the metropolis on that day. The worst explosion happened inside a train of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) in Manila where 22 passengers were killed and hundreds more were wounded.

Before this, an explosion nearly killed Philippine Ambassador Leonides Caday in Jakarta, Indonesia on August 1, 2000. Police claimed that an Indonesian national in their custody has admitted responsibility for the bombings in Manila and Jakarta. In March, 2002, a group which identified itself as the Indigenous Federal State Army planted at least 10 hoax bombs around Metro Manila purportedly to demand the establishment of separate governments for Muslim and indigenous people. Investigators, however, denied that such a group exists and blamed the bomb scare to existing rebel groups.