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| The plane was 500 km from its destination in Antarctica |
The Chilean Air Force announced today (10) that it had 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 Eduardo Frei Montalva Antarctic base,” according to a statement. Radio contact was interrupted.
In total, “38 people, including 17 crew 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 air base, in Punta Arenas, more than three thousand kilometers south of Santiago de Chile, had the mission of providing logistical support to the base in Antarctica.
The President of Chile, Sebastián Piñera, and the Ministers of the Interior and Defense, 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 Hercules plane, which was traveling with 38 passengers towards Antarctica from Punta Arenas (…) we will monitor the search operations and the sending of rescue teams”, wrote Piñera on the official account of the Chilean Air Force. social network Twitter.
