On July 28, 1963, 24 Filipino boy scouts and scout officials were on their way to the 11th World Jamboree in Marathon, Greece. They were on board the ill-fated EgyptAir jetliner, which was called United Arab Airlines at that time. The jetliner, which originated in Hong Kong and had a stopover in Bangkok, Thailand crashed in the Bay of Bombay in India. On that day, 52 passengers and eight crew members died including the Philippine delegation of boy scouts.
The boy scouts who passed away on the said crash were:
From the Manila BS Council:
- Ramon V. Albano
- Henry Chuatoco
- Jose Antonio Delgado
- Pedro Gandia
- Wilfredo Santiago
- Ascario Tuason Jr.
From the Quezon City BS Council:
- Roberto Castor
- Romeo R. Rallos
- Rogelio Ybardolaza
From Manila and Goa, Camarines Sur BS Councils
- Felix Fuentebella Jr.
The rest of the scouts:
- Victor de Guia, Jr. (Baguio City)
- Antonio Limbaga (Zamboanga City)
- Roberto Lozano (Dagupan City)
- Paulo Madriñan (Pasay City)
- Jose Fermin Magbanua (Negros Oriental)
- Filamor Reyes and Antonio Torillo (Cavite)
- Benecio Tobias (Tarlac)
Junep Ocampo posted the following photo of the delegates on Facebook. He captioned it with:
Exactly 53 years ago, the country woke up to the tragic news that a United Arab Airlines plane carrying Filipino Boy Scouts bound for Athens, Greece, crashed in the Arabian Sea near India. There were no survivors. The boys and their Scout masters were supposed to participate in the 11th World Jamboree in Marathon, Greece. Their death shocked the whole world. And a grieving nation honored the boys by naming the streets in a newly developed suburb in Quezon City after them. Hence, we now have Scout Borromeo, Scout Tobias, Scout Delgado, etcetera, all streets near the Tomas Morato area.
The photo on this post was the last group photo of the boys before they left Manila for a stopover in Hong Kong. May we never forget these boys. I salute them here as a former Boy Scout.
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