Chile military plane with 38 is missing on way to…

Chilean military plane carrying 38 people goes missing just over an hour after take off on route to Antarctica

  •  Chile’s air force said it lost radio contact with the transport plane Monday
  •  The C-130 Hercules carried 17 crew members and 21 passengers
  • The personnel were to check on a floating fuel supply line and other equipment at the Chilean base
  •  Mosqueira said the aircraft would have been about halfway to the Antarctic base when it lost contact.
  • No emergency signals had been activated

Chile’s air force said it lost radio contact with a transport plane carrying 38 people on a flight Monday evening to the country’s base in Antarctica.

It said the military had declared an alert and activated search and rescue teams.

The C-130 Hercules carried 17 crew members and 21 passengers, including three civilians. 

Chile’s air force said it lost radio contact with a transport plane carrying 38 people on a flight Monday evening to the country’s base in Antarctica (a stock image of a Chile Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules) 

The personnel were to check on a floating fuel supply line and other equipment at the Chilean base.

President Sebastián Piñera said via Twitter that he was with his defense and interior ministers at the air force headquarters monitoring developments.

The plane took off at 4.55pm from the southern city of Punta Arenas, which is more than 1,860 miles from the capital of Santiago. Contact was lost at 6.13pm the statement said.

Gen. Eduardo Mosqueira of the Fourth Air Brigade told local media that 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 when it lost contact. No emergency signals had been activated, he said.

He said the plane, whose pilot had extensive experience, had been scheduled to return Monday night.

It was on route to Chile's military base Presidente Eduardo Frei, in the King George island, in Antarctica (pictured in 2014)

It was on route to Chile’s military base Presidente Eduardo Frei, in the King George island, in Antarctica (pictured in 2014)

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