MANILA - The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) said that a search and retrieval team found the wreckage of the missing Cessna 152 plane in the northern Apayao province on Wednesday with the pilot and passenger dead.

"The search and retrieval operations are now ongoing to retrieve the bodies of the two persons on board the aircraft," CAAP spokesperson Eric Apolonio said.

Apolonio said the aircraft's wreckage and the bodies were located in Apayao province in the Cordillera Administrative Region on Luzon island.

The two-seat aircraft went missing hours after taking off on Tuesday morning from Laoag International Airport in Ilocos Norte province in the northern Philippines. It was supposed to land in Tuguegarao City in Cagayan province a few minutes after noontime Tuesday but went missing.