Foreign Minister Penny Wong confirmed that two Australians were among the four people who died in the crash of a plane in the Philippines.
The incident occurred at Mayon Volcano, which is one of the country’s active volcanoes.
Simon and Karthi, who were from Adelaide, were on board a plane that went missing after taking off from Albay province in the Philippines.
It was heading to Manila. The two pilots and two passengers were from Manila. They were consulting for a company that specializes in geothermal power.
Penny Wong, the Foreign Minister of Australia, offered her condolences to the families of Karthi Santhanam and Simon Chipperfield. She also noted that the other victims were Filipinos.
The families of the victims will be going through a difficult time, and the government of Australia extends its condolences to them.
Unfortunately, the search and rescue operations for the missing men were hampered by bad weather and attacks by local rebel forces.
This week, two soldiers were killed during the search operations.
The small plane, which took off from an airport in Albay on Saturday, was reported missing after the crew members could not be contacted by air traffic controllers.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Philippines, the plane was flying at an altitude of over 800 meters when it made its last contact with air traffic controllers.
The aircraft’s wreckage was discovered near the Mayon Volcano on Sunday afternoon.
However, despite the presence of debris from the plane, the search efforts failed to locate the four men who were on board.