A medical evacuation plane headed from the Philippines to Japan burst into flames after it crashed Sunday at the end of the runway in Manila, killing all eight people aboard, according to local officials.
“Unfortunately, no passenger survived the accident,” that involved a Lion Air flight the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) said in a statement.
The plane is suspected to have conveyed a coronavirus patient along with a companion and medical staff to Haneda, Japan.
“8 passengers consisting of a flight medic, nurse, doctor, three flight crew, one patient and its companion were on board,” Senator and head of the Philippine Red Cross Richard Gordon wrote on Twitter.
Video from the scene shows a huge plume of smoke rising from the end of the runway.
It was not clear whether those on board were being airlifted to Japan for treatment for COVID-19, but government officials told the New York Times the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine uses the same aircraft to transport supplies to the medical workers on the front line throughout the nation as it battles the virus.
