Air force says it lost contact with Hercules plane on Monday evening in good weather
Chile’s air force has said it has lost radio contact with a transport plane carrying 38 people on a flight to the country base in
It said the military had declared an alert and activated search and rescue teams after communications went down on Monday evening.
The C – (Hercules was carrying****************************************************************************** (crew and) passengers, including three civilians. They were being flown in to check on a floating fuel supply line and other equipment at the Chilean base.
President Sebastián PiñeraTweetthat he was with his defense and interior ministers at the air force headquarters monitoring developments.
The plane took off at 4. pm from the southern city of Punta Arenas, which is more than 3, (km) 1, miles) from the capital of Santiago. Contact was lost at 6. pm , the statement said.
The air force said late on Monday that the weather good at the time contact was lost.
General Eduardo Mosqueira of the Fourth Air Brigade told local media a search was underway and a ship was in the area where the plane should have been when contact was lost.
Mosqueira said the aircraft would have been about halfway to the Antarctic base at the time communications went down. No emergency signals had been activated, he said.
He said the plane, whose pilot had extensive experience, had been scheduled to return on Monday night.
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