This photo taken on April 8, 2026 shows a piece of aircraft wreckage in the Dinagat Islands in the southern Philippines. A Cessna aircraft crashed on the Dinagat Islands in the southern Philippines on Wednesday afternoon, authorities confirmed. (Photo: Dinagat Islands' Provincial DRRM Council/Handout via Xinhua)

MANILA, April 8 (Xinhua) -- A Cessna aircraft crashed on the Dinagat Islands in the southern Philippines on Wednesday afternoon, authorities confirmed.

The local disaster risk reduction and management council said residents reported hearing a loud explosion at around 1 p.m. on Wednesday. Local officials said the aircraft was later found in a mountainous area in the Dinagat Islands.

The plane, registered RP-C2444, departed from Subic Bay International Airport in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, located on the west coast of Luzon, northwest of Manila, shortly after 9 a.m. Wednesday, and was last tracked near the southern Philippines at 12:44 p.m.

Rescue operations are underway.