MANILA (UPDATED) —  The Armed Forces of the Philippines said Wednesday it had found a missing FA-50 fighter jet and the bodies of its two crew members in Mount Kalatungan, Bukidnon province.

The bodies of two pilots were found near the wreckage site at around 11 a.m., AFP  Eastern Mindanao Command commander Lt. Gen. Luis Rex Bergante said.

At 2,880 meters, Kalatungan is the fifth-tallest mountain in the Philippines.

Rescuers traced signals from the aircraft’s emergency locator transmitter and beacons, conducted aerial searches, and trudged through “dense fog and difficult terrain”,  Philippine Air Force spokesperson Col. Ma. Consuelo Castillo earlier said.

The fighter went missing a day earlier while on a mission to provide air support for troops fighting communist rebels in northern Mindanao. It lost communication with other aircraft involved in the mission just minutes before reaching the target area.

“The bodies were found inside the aircraft. There was an attempt to open a parachute and eject,” Bergante said. “The aircraft was a total wreck. The aircraft smashed through the trees in the mountain.”

The Air Force said it “grounded its FA-50 fleet and will ensure a thorough investigation into the accident.”

“We are committed to providing all the necessary support to the bereaved families during this difficult time. Meanwhile, we also request the nation’s prayers for the eternal repose of our fallen pilots, whose service and heroism we deeply honor,” Castillo said.

The Philippines has a dozen FA-50 jet fighters that it purchased from South Korea in the past decade.

Lieutenant Colonel Francisco Garello of the 4th Infantry Division said early Wednesday that the search had been suspended overnight due to the danger of “communist groups” believed to be operating in the area.

On Tuesday, he said his division had called in air support during a firefight with the New People’s Army, a long-running Maoist insurgency now believed to have fewer than 2,000 fighters.

The jets flew out of Mactan–Benito Ebuen Air Base, which shares a runway with the airport in Cebu, the Philippines’ second-largest city.

Air force spokeswoman Castillo told reporters Tuesday it was the “first major incident” involving its squadron of FA-50s, which have been used in exercises over the disputed South China Sea.

The FA-50s have been flown in joint air patrols with treaty ally the United States over contested areas of the South China Sea, where China and the Philippines have been involved in increasingly tense confrontations.

On Wednesday, Castillo said the air force hoped the investigation would be “done thoroughly but swift enough for us not to sacrifice our operational readiness” given the fighters’ key role in maritime patrols.

She also said the air force has proposed purchasing 12 more FA-50s, a request under consideration at the Department of National Defense.

There have been a number of deadly crashes involving Philippine military aircraft in recent years.

Two navy pilots were killed last April when their Robinson R22 helicopter crashed near a market south of the capital Manila during a training flight.

Two PAF pilots were killed in January 2023 when their Marchetti SF260 turboprop plane crashed into a rice field.