9 Pinoys safe after plane crash-landed in Micronesia - DFA

MANILA -- Nine Filipinos on board an Air Niugini plane that crash-landed in the South Pacific nation of Micronesia were all safe, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Saturday. 
The group was on its way to the Philippines for a vacation when the Boeing 737-800 aircraft crashed into the lagoon as it attempted to land at an airport in Chuuk Island on Friday, the DFA said in a statement. 
The 9 Filipinos will be taking other flights to Manila. The Consulate General is coordinating with the airline for the recovery of their luggage, the agency said. 
Except for one passenger reported missing, all the other 46 passengers and crew were safe, it added. 
The weather "was very poor with heavy rain and reduced visibility at the time of the incident," Air Niugini said in a statement. 
A spokesman for Papua New Guinea's Accident Investigation Commission said investigators would fly to the scene as soon as possible to piece together what happened.
The Philippine government last week lifted deployment restrictions it imposed earlier this month over workers returning to Micronesia. 
Manila had banned the deployment of workers to the Pacific Island nation after some Filipinos allegedly failed to receive their wages from a state hospital there. 
Some 70 OFWs, in a letter to the government, refuted the allegation as they asked for the lifting of the ban. -- With a report from Reuters 

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