A US Navy P-3 Orion surveillance aircraft made an emergency landing at Mactan airport in the central Philippines today after one of its engines failed, local television said.
The emergency occurred hours after a US Army special forces helicopter carrying 10 US military personnel crashed in the south of the country, killing at least three of its occupants, local military officials said. The cause of the crash is not yet known.
About 500 US soldiers are in the Philippines taking part in a joint military exercise aimed at upgrading the skills of Philippine soldiers in fighting Muslim extremists linked to bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network.
