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Rescuers found the burned wreckage of a missing helicopter Wednesday that had been carrying key aides of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, including a general and two Cabinet members, officials said. Seven bodies were recovered.

Rescuers were still looking for one person who was aboard the air force Bell 412 helicopter when it disappeared Tuesday in bad weather and low clouds that obscured visibility over the northern Philippines' rugged Cordillera mountain range, Ifugao Gov. Teddy Baguilat said.

The helicopter crashed in a mountain rain forest near Tinoc township in Ifugao province. A team of policemen reached the site after hiking for hours in a heavy rain, officials said.

Among those aboard were Arroyo's senior military aide Brig. Gen. Carlos Clet, Press Undersecretary Jose Capadocia and the president's appointments secretary, Marilou Frostrom. Both Capadocia and Frostrom were Cabinet undersecretaries. The five others included the two pilots, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said.

Baguilat and Tinoc Mayor Lopez Pogong said seven bodies had been found.

"It's very tragic," Baguilat said.

After flying into thick clouds and encountering rain, the helicopter struggled to turn back to avoid slamming into 2,922-meter (9,586-foot) Mount Pulag, the country's second highest peak. But it crashed into a nearby forest for still-unclear reasons, Ifugao police Chief Joseph Cagayan Adnol said.

"Villagers saw the chopper and then it disappeared. Sometime later, they heard a loud thud," Adnol told The Associated Press by telephone.

Arroyo's aides were flying from the mountain resort city of Baguio to Ifugao, about 45 minutes away by helicopter, to prepare for a visit by her Wednesday. She was scheduled to inspect a mountain road project and talk to Ifugao officials but the trip was canceled after the aircraft's disappearance.

Arroyo, whose popularity ratings have plummeted to historic lows in recent years, has been barnstorming the country, traveling to remote islands and provinces to meet people and promote her economic program.

U.S. military officials dispatched two Chinook helicopters on Wednesday to help in the search.

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Associated Press writers Oliver Teves and Teresa Cerojano contributed to this report.

From: Yahoo.com News