Missing gold on a Hong Kong hillside? History buffs return to plane crash site in search of truth - and treasure

Seventy years after a Philippine Airlines plane burst into flames on impact with Mount Parker, three local history buffs have unearthed a gold coin from the crash site – and with it a forgotten mystery.

The upper slopes are shrouded in dense mist and low cloud on a chilly, overcast Saturday, much as they were on that afternoon seven decades ago, as three men make the arduous trek up the steep Mount Parker Trail towards the summit, metal detectors slung over their shoulders.

There was no concrete trail in 1947 and newspapers at the time reported that the police search and recovery team, dispatched from Shau Kei Wan the following morning, had to cling to shrubs and tufts of grass in order to reach the smouldering crash site, where the charred remains of the four crew members were discovered. The aircraft – a Dakota bearing the registration PI-C12 – had crashed on Saturday, January 25, en route to Kai Tak airfield carrying a reported US$15 million cargo of Mexican bullion and coins, destined for seven Hong Kong banks. A significant amount of that cargo remains unaccounted for.

“No one else comes up here and hardly anyone else knows the story of the Philippine Airlines Dakota and the gold,” says Craig Mitchell, who confesses that if it were not for the 70th anniversary and the unexpected interest from Post Magazine, he and his two colleagues, teacher Alex Sommerville and photographer Stuart Woods, would not have made the trip.

In 1947, though, the accident was headline news, provoking an official inquiry. The authorities, fearing a mini gold rush, quickly established an impenetrable police cordon while the precious cargo was recovered. The incident also generated a series of rumours, myths and conspiracy theories about the final destination of the cargo and the fate of the gold.