Four die as military plane crashes in Philippines

One of the deceased was a U.S. service member and three others were defense contractors, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said on Thursday. No one survived the crash, according to the statement. The plane crashed while conducting a routine surveillance and reconnaissance mission in support of U.S.-Philippine forces in the area.

Where did it crash? The aircraft crashed in the province of Maguindanao del Sur in the country’s far south, according to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. The cause of the crash was still under investigation Thursday morning and the names of the deceased were withheld until the individuals’ families had been notified.

Dig deeper: Listen to Lindsay Mast’s report on The World and Everything in It podcast about how a shortage of air traffic controllers in recent years may be making civilian air travel in the United States more dangerous.