Chilean Military Plane, Heading for Antartica with 38 on Board, Disappears
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Chilean Air Force announced today, Tuesday, December 10th, that it has lost “radio contact” with a C130 military plane with 38 people on board, which took off from Punta Arenas, in the south of the country, to a base in Antarctica.
“A C130 Hercules plane took off from the city of Punta Arenas to the Antarctic base of Eduardo Frei Montalva,” according to a statement. The radio contact was interrupted.
In all, “38 people, including 17 crew members and 21 passengers” were on board.
The Chilean Navy launched a search and rescue operation, having dispatched planes and ships to the region.
The plane, which took off from Chabunco airbase in Punta Arenas, more than 3,000 kilometers south of Santiago de Chile, had the mission of providing logistical support to the Antarctic base.
Chilean President Sebastián Piñera and Interior and Defense Ministers Gonzalo Blumel and Alberto Espina went to the command post at the Cerrillos air base in the Chilean capital to monitor the work.
“Dismayed by the disappearance of the Chilean Air Force’s Hercules plane, which was traveling with 38 passengers to Antarctica from Punta Arenas (…) we will monitor search operations and the sending of rescue teams,” Piñera wrote on the official Twitter social network account.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error
Read More from The Rio Times