Chile Plane Crash Announced by Chilean Air Force
(Photo : Reuters)

According to a statement of the Air Force of Chile released on Monday, its contact had been disconnected with a plane going to Antarctica. The plane had 38 passengers. Rescuers from many nations are helping search the area for survivors and clues regarding the disappearance of the plane.

It was reported that the plan had left Punta Arenas at 4:55 in the afternoon before its contact got disconnected from operators at 6:13 in the evening. 

After more than seven hours of losing connection with the aircraft named C-130 Hercules, the Air Force of Chile confirmed that the aircraft had already crashed. It was also announced that the Air Force of Chile is cooperating with other forces from different nations to search for the missing craft, either in the air, or in bodies of water. They are hoping to find survivors from the crash.

The Air Force of Chile had already exerted its efforts to contact the loved ones of the passengers of the plane. On Tuesday, the Air Force released the list of the passengers of the plane which included seventeen crew members and twenty-one passengers.

According to a social media post by the Chilean Air Force, 15 of the passengers of the plane were part of the Air Force, three were from Chile's Army, two were members of the same firm, and 1 was from Punta Arenas' University of Magallanes.

The aircraft was flying to Antarctica to maintain the facilities of the Base Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva. The Chilean base is located in the northern part of Antarctica. It was scheduled that the plane should have arrived at 7:17 pm as forecasted by the Air Force.

According to a social media post of Chilean President Sebastián Piñera, he was monitoring the developments at the headquarters of the Air Force with the country's minister of defense and interior minister on Monday.

The president had shared his thoughts and prayers with the families of the 38 passengers. He had also included in the post that he had canceled a trip to Argentina for the inauguration of President Alberto Fernández.

According to the Air Force of Chile, the two pilots of the plane have far-reaching experience. It was also shared that despite the plane being built in 1978, it is still in good flying condition. They said that the plane flies that route every month.

Drake's Passage is a part of the sea located at the center of the southern extremes of South America and Antarctica. This part of the sea has a reputation for having intense conditions of weather such as vicious storms. However, the Air Force had said that the weather during the flight of the missing plane was good because if it wasn't then they would've canceled its flight.

According to Eduardo Mosquiera of the Air Force, the plane would've been halfway to its destination when it disconnected with the Air Force communication system. He had also said that there were no emergency signals activated.

The officials of Chile are still hoping to find survivors of the Chile plane crash accident because of the four rafts that the airplane carries. The four rafts can accommodate twenty passengers if they were to crash at sea.

Argentinian planes and Uruguay planes were offering assistance to the mission of searching for survivors of the Chilean plane crash.