Wet weather is hampering the search for mining engineers Simon Chipperfield and Karthi Santhanam, identified as passengers onboard a Cessna RPC340.
The plane went missing minutes after it departed Bicol International Airport in Albay at 6.43am local time on Saturday.
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The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) said air traffic controllers last contacted the plane at 6:46 am, when the plane was in the vicinity of Camalig at an altitude of 2600 feet (just over 790 metres).
The aircraft was expected to arrive in Manila at 7.53am.
Four people were onboard, including the pilot and crew.
Pictures have surfaced of plane wreckage near the Mayon Volcano, which is close to the airport, but the aircraft is still officially listed as missing.
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Senior Superintendent Achilles Santiago of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) in Albay reportedly said the wreckage of Cessna RPC340 was seen at the forested boundary between the towns of Guinobatan and Camalig.
Search and rescue crews from the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO), Camalig Fire Station (FS), and other teams have been deployed to the area.
The search has been slow going due to wet weather.
Camalig fire station chief senior inspector Hamor Laguilles told local media the plane was “flying too low, (emitting) smoke and making a loud crumbling sound before it disappeared.”
It’s understood Chipperfield and Santhanam were travelling to Manilla after conducting a site visit at Bac-Man Geothermal Power Plant.
9News has reached out to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) for comment.
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