Everything About the Lionair Crash, A Medical Evacuation Plane That Carries the Head of the Philippine Red Cross

The COVID-19 has brought about tragedy after tragedy all over the world.

Thousands of people have lost their lives, loved ones and family members.

It’s certainly a hard time for everyone, especially for those under lockdown or is currently serving Stay-Home or quarantine notices.

Unfortunately, even more bad news is coming your way:

Everything About the Lionair Crash, A Medical Evacuation Plane That Carries the Head of the Philippine Red Cross

A medical evacuation plane had exploded during take-off in the Philippine capital on 29 March.

Officials revealed that the crash killed all eight passengers and crew, which included an American and a Canadian.

The Lionair plane was headed for Haneda, Japan. Unfortunately, it exploded into flames at the end of the runway at around 8pm at Manila’s main airport, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

The Lionair plane is owned by a Philippines-registered charter service Lionair.

Indonesian Carrier Lion Air Unrelated to Manila-based Lionair

Indonesian carrier Lion Air wants to make it known in a statement they issued that they are not related in any way to Manila-based Lionair, although the names are incredibly similar.

Video footage has since emerged which shows a massive plume of smoke rising into the sky as firemen tried to douse the fuselage with foam.

“Unfortunately, no passenger survived the accident,” said the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) in a statement.

Investigations by the Civil Aeronautics Authority of the Philippines is currently ongoing, according to MIAA said.

“Our fire and medic teams were already dispatched to NAIA Terminal 2 to respond to the plane crash incident involving Lion Air Flight RPC 5880,” Gordon said.

“The plane caught fire and exploded as it was taking off the NAIA runway,” he said.

Photos from our team on the ground. pic.twitter.com/5SYvVxkcZk

— Richard J. Gordon (@DickGordonDG) March 29, 2020

Following the crash, the runaway was closed temporarily, which affected the arrival of Korean Air flight that was forced to be diverted to Clark airport in the northern Philippines.

Out of 8 of those killed, one was an American national, one was a Canadian citizen and the other six were Filipinos.

Grounding The Whole Fleet

Captain Don Mendoza who is the deputy director-general for operations at the CAAP, confirmed that Lionair is the same operator of another flight that crashed in September last year in Laguna.

“Right now, the initial step that we are looking into is … grounding the whole fleet,” said Capt Mendoza in a press conference.

“It’s quite alarming, but we are looking into the records deeply … of this unfortunate event to happen to Lionair. We will have a thorough investigation into this and we will advise the operator on the actions and steps to be taken.”

Lionair provides both medical evacuation and chartered flights. Do note that Lionair, a firm based in the Philippines is different from Lion Air, which is an Indonesian budget airline.

In September last year, a flight that was operated by Lionair crashed in Laguna, a province south of Manila.