Laoac, Philippines: A United States military transport aircraft struck a concrete barrier while taking off from a roadway during a contingency training exercise in the northern Philippines on Tuesday, injuring all five American personnel aboard, Philippine officials confirmed.
The incident took place on a concrete bypass road in Laoac town, located in Pangasinan province, a designated alternate landing and take-off zone used for joint training operations.
According to local police reports, the pilot and two other U.S. service members were transported to a hospital for further treatment following the accident. One of the hospitalized personnel has since been discharged, while the other remains in stable condition, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a brief statement.
The remaining two crew members were treated at the scene for minor injuries, Philippine authorities said. No Philippine civilians were hurt in the incident, and the aircraft sustained noticeable damage.
The flight was part of a routine contingency training exercise, designed to practise landing and taking off from alternate landing zones such as roads and highways. These drills aim to ensure preparedness for situations where conventional airports or runways are inaccessible for instance, after natural disasters like typhoons or earthquakes.
Philippine officials noted that the exercise had been planned and fully coordinated with local civilian, police, and military authorities.
The cause of the aircraft’s deviation and collision with the road barrier remains under investigation. Philippine and U.S. military authorities have not yet released detailed findings or a timeline for when a final report is expected.
Under the framework of the 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement and a mutual defense treaty, U.S. forces regularly conduct joint training with the Armed Forces of the Philippines to enhance interoperability, humanitarian response capability, and regional security cooperation.
In recent years, military cooperation between the two countries has expanded, including larger exercises focused on territorial defense and freedom of navigation, particularly in the South China Sea, where overlapping claims and maritime tensions involve China and several Southeast Asian nations.
