by Nick Delgado

Guam - The search continued today in Palau for the pilot and two police officers who were aboard a Cessna aircraft that had to make an emergency landing in the waters off Palau on Sunday. Coast Guard Sector Guam officials who are actively part of the search say they are getting a lot of Palau government and community volunteers coming out to help with the search efforts.

"We have conducted a search over three days and made extensive searches with private entities, the Coast Guard C130, with the USCG Cutter and the Remlik, which is a patrol, boat out of Palau," noted Coast Guard Operations Specialist Chief Joe Benavente. He says the crew has been out at sea searching from both in the water and in the air. He says the crew has been out at sea searching from the water and in the air. Palau Wildlife Rangers are taking care of search efforts on land.

The search is for any evidence of a single engine Cessna aircraft or the three on board that left the Palau National Airport Sunday to provide aerial support for a fishing vessel. Palau police officers were investigating a chinese ship that was raided for illegally fishing off the waters of Palau. The crew set the ship on fire and attempted to destroy the cargo and one fisherman was reportedly shot dead during the raid.

Palau's Bureau of Public Safety issued a press release stating that 58-year-old Franklin Ohlinger was piloting the plane accompanied by Palauan police officers, 47-year-old Detective Lieutenant Willie Mays Towai and 33-year-old Police Officer III Earlee Decherong. The pilot and the three police officers never made it to the ship's location.

Bureau of Public Safety director Norvert Yano says numerous attempts were made to contact the plane and guide it to a safe landing but the aircraft's navigational system wasn't working properly and a mayday was declared. Palau police officials lost communication with the plane five hours into the trip.

While there's been no evidence of where the plane went down, Benavente says that's where SAR-OPS plays a critical role. "This program puts in mathematical computations, algorithms, it puts in things to give us the best possible search for each individual search and rescue case."

The search to date has spread out 8,800 square nautical miles, which Benavente says equates roughly to the size of the state of New Jersey. The U.S. Coast Guard notes there are no plans to suspend the search anytime soon, and that decision is based on if any evidence can be recovered out at sea.