Philippines grounds company's aircraft after deadly fire

Philippine aviation officials on Monday grounded all aircraft belonging to a company that owns a plane that caught fire while taking off from Manila's airport, killing all eight people on board. All of Lionair’s aircraft will remain grounded during the investigation of the burning of its Westwind 24 plane late Sunday, they said. The plane had been used earlier to transport medical supplies for the coronavirus outbreak. Lionair, a Philippine-based charter company, is not related to Lion Air, an Indonesian low-cost airline. The twin-engine aircraft was on a medical evacuation mission when it caught fire. Two passengers from the US and Canada and six Filipino flight crew and medical personnel died when the Tokyo-bound plane burst into flames on the main runway, airport general manager Ed Monreal said. The aircraft’s cockpit voice recorder has been recovered by investigators, officials said.<br/>