Philippine military plane catches fire with 120 people on board

A Philippine military plane caught fire with more than 120 people on board Wednesday shortly before taking off for the disputed South China Sea, an air force spokesman said.
No injuries were reported after emergency teams at the Clark Air Base in Pampanga province, 84 kilometres north of Manila, responded to the incident, according to air force spokesman Major Aristides Galang.
The air force has suspended operations of its remaining C-130s pending inspection, he added. The aircraft was on its way to the western city of Puerto Princesa and then Pagasa Island, the largest area claimed and occupied by the Philippines in the South China Sea.
 "It was about to take off when [the place's left side] caught fire," Galang said, adding that investigators were still determining the cause of the fire. There were 115 passengers and seven crew members on board the plane when the incident happened. The passengers included students from the National Defence College of the Philippines.
 "The primary mission [of the trip] was to ferry the students," Galang said. "They will be visiting Pag-asa Island as part of their curriculum." The South China Sea, a key shipping lane believed to be rich in marine and mineral resources, is also claimed by China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
 In 2016, an international tribunal in the Hague ruled that Beijing has no legal or historical basis for its so-called "nine-dash line," which demarcates its claims to almost the entire South China Sea, in a case filed by the Philippines.