Philippine plane lands safely after pilot suffers stroke

MANILA, Oct. 30 (Chinese media) -- A Philippine captain suffered a mild stroke

Wednesday when piloting a passenger plane and his co-pilot managed to land the

carrier safely, with 79 passengers on board, officials said on Thursday.

Captain Alex Carvajal, who was piloting a Philippine Airlines jet from

Manila to Bacolod, suffered pain in his nape and asked co-pilot Donato Cabigo to

take over the control when they were 60 kilometers from the destination, the

Philippine Daily Inquirer said in an online report.

Bacolod is the capital city of the province of Negros Occidental, located

in the central Philippines.

The incident did not constitute an emergency as no one was harmed and

Cabigo landed the Airbus 320 safely at 5:37 p.m. local time (0937 GMT), said

Antonio Alfonso, manager of the Bacolod airport.

Passengers said they did not notice anything wrong except for slight

turbulence caused by the cloudy weather.

However, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines will investigate

the incident, Alfonso said.

Job Lamela, the Philippine Airlines' manager in Bacolod, said the captain

did not pass out and was in fact speaking while undergoing treatment at a local

hospital.

Carvajal's attending physician reported that the pilot experienced a

cerebrovascular accident or a stroke, Lamela said.