Bishops offer prayers for military plane crash victims, families

Filipino bishops  express sympathy, offer prayers for families of the victims of the plane crash in Sulu.

"As your pastors, we share the pain of loss that this recent news has brought us," said Davao Archbishop and Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) President Romulo Valles in a statement.

“We condole with the families and friends of the several soldiers and civilians who were killed by the crash,” he said.

As of posting, at least 53 have died in the plane crash in Sulu on July 4 and 50 of the fatalities are military personnel and three are civilians with at least 46 were reported injured.

Over the weekend, C-130 military aircraft took off from Lumbia Airport in Cagayan de Oro City and was about to land in Jolo port in Sulu when it crashed before noon.

Valles, in his message, said "We enjoin all our sisters and brothers – Christians, Muslims, as well as all people of good will – to continue to be united – in solidarity and prayer – with the search and retrieval team of our armed forces, those who are recovering in hospitals, and the families of the deceased."  -- BAP, GMA News