page_title: 1957 Cebu Douglas C-47 crash
section_title: Accident
hierarchical_section_title: 1957 Cebu Douglas C-47 crash / Accident
caption_attribution_description: English: The crash site of the Philippine Presidential Plane where Ramon Magsaysay rode from Cebu on the way to Manila on March 17, 1957
context_page_description: The 1957 crash of a Douglas C-47 plane named Mt. Pinatubo on the slopes of Mount Manunggal, Cebu, Philippines, killed the seventh President of the Philippines, Ramon Magsaysay, and 24 other passengers. The crash is estimated to have occurred at 1:40 a.m., March 17, 1957, Philippine Standard Time. Several high-ranking Philippine government and military officials, as well as journalists, were also among the dead. A reporter for the Philippine Herald, Nestor Mata, was the sole survivor of the accident.
  At the time of his death, President Magsaysay, a Nacionalista, was widely popular and was expected to easily win re-election in the November presidential elections.
context_section_description: On March 16, 1957, President Magsaysay arrived at Cebu City for a series of speaking engagements in the city later that day. He spoke at a convention of USAFFE veterans, at the University of the Visayas, the Southwestern College and at the University of San Carlos. In the evening, he attended a party at the home of Cebu City mayor Sergio Osmeña, Jr. He left for Lahug Airport and boarded his plane shortly before midnight, sent off at the airport by a group led by the mayor's father, former President Sergio Osmeña.
  The aircraft took off from Lahug Airport for Nichols Field, around 640 kilometers away near Manila, at 1:00:00 AM, Sunday, March 17. The weather was fine and the ceiling unlimited with low broken clouds and a bright moon. Eyewitnesses on the ground observed that the airplane had not gained enough altitude as it approached the mountain ranges in Balamban. At 01:17:00 AM, the plane radioed the official presidential home, Malacañang, to have the President fetched at Nichols Field at around 03:15 AM. This communication was the last ever conveyed by the plane.
  Concerns arose after Magsaysay's plane failed to arrive at Nichols Field on schedule. By breakfast time, First Lady Luz Magsaysay and the Magsaysay family were informed that the plane had gone missing. An all-out air and sea search was instituted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, with the assistance of the United States Air Force and Navy. The search had initially focused on the sea, as much of the flight route was over the ocean. The news had also spread throughout Manila and the rest of the Philippines, people weeping openly upon hearing of the missing flight.
  In the mid-afternoon of March 17, a local town official in Cebu announced that the plane had crashed on the slopes of Mount Manunggal, in Balamban, Cebu, approximately 22 miles northwest of Cebu City. Several local residents had heard the crash and discovered the flaming wreckage of the plane on the morning of the 17th. They discovered one survivor, Nestor Mata, a reporter with the Philippine Herald newspaper, whom they transported down the mountain. Mata, who suffered second- and third-degree burns, estimated that the plane had crashed around 1:40:00 AM. There were no other survivors. Military rescuers arrived at the crash site the following day, March 18. The body of President Magsaysay was identified by his brother through his wristwatch and later confirmed by dental records. It was determined that at the time of the crash, Magsaysay had been inside his special cabin, located just behind the cockpit.
  Within hours after the official identification of President Magsaysay's body, Vice President Carlos P. Garcia was sworn in as the 8th President of the Philippines. At the time of the crash, Garcia had been in Australia, attending a conference of the SEATO.
caption: The crash site of Ramon Magsaysay's presidential plane at Mount Manunggal, Cebu
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