A two-seater Cessna plane has gone missing after taking off in Laoag City on Tuesday afternoon, August 1, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) reported.

In a statement, CAAP said Cessna 152 aircraft with a body number RP-C8598 took off from Laoag City airport in Ilocos at 12:16 PM and was en route to Tuguegarao City airport in Cagayan.

But the aircraft failed to reach Tuguegarao at the expected arrival time of 12:30 PM.

According to the agency, it last tracked the Cessna 152 at 32 nautical miles northwest of Alcala, Cagayan.

The passengers were identified as pilot instructor Capt. Edzel John Lumbao Tabuzo and Indian student pilot Anshum Rajkumar Konde.

CAAP said it did not receive any signal of distress from the pilot instructor and the student pilot.

The search and rescue operations have commenced.

Meanwhile, in a Facebook post, the Cagayan Provincial Information Office (PIO) posted a video taken by a netizen wherein an aircraft was seen in distress while flying in Sanchez Mira and Pamplona in Cagayan.

“Isang sasakyang panghimpapawid na tila distress ang nakita at nakuhanan ng video ng ilang concerned citizen sa baybaying bahagi ng Sanchez mira at Pamplona, Cagayan. Ito ay kasabay ng ulat ng Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Region II na isang two-seater Cessna 152 single engine na may body number na RP-C8598 ang kasalukuyang pinaghahanap ng awtoridad matapos mawalan ng kontak sa piloto,” it captioned.

This is the third aircraft that has gone missing this year, following the Cessna 206 aircraft in Isabela in January and the Cessna 340 aircraft in Albay in February.