Photo: Fabrizio Gandolfo/SOPA Images/LightRocket via GettyA Chilean Air Force plane carrying 38 passengers to a base in Antarctica is presumed to have crashed after it lost communication about an hour into its journey on Monday.The Air Force issued astatementsaying the C130 Hercules aircraft took off from an air base in the city of Punta Arenas just before 5 p.m. and lost radio contact just over an hour later en route to the President Eduardo Frei Montalva Antarctic Air Base.Seventeen crew members and 21 passengers — including three civilians — were on board, theAssociated Pressreported.A laterstatementfrom the Air Force released the names of all the passengers, and said it had made contact with their direct relatives.“The plane is presumed to have crashed, given that the amount of fuel and the plane’s autonomy had already run out,” Gen. Francisco Torres said at a press conference, according toCNN. “Given that, it is already assumed that the plane has crashed.”Relatives gather in Santiago, Chile.JAVIER TORRES/AFP via GettyThe aircraft was transferring personnel to “review the floating fuel supply pipeline of the Base and to carry out anticorrosive treatment of national facilities in the area,” according to the statement.Gen. Eduardo Mosqueira of the Fourth Air Brigade told local media that no emergency signals were activated before or after the plane lost contact, and that the route is one the Air Force flies monthly, the AP reported.Conditions were favorable at the time of take-off, with officials reportedly saying that the plane wouldn’t have flown had the weather not been good. Still, the area through which it was flying is known for rapidly changing conditions with freezing temperatures and strong winds.The Air Force said that with the help of aircrafts, satellites and ships, it would continue searching the area near where communication was lost.Chilean President Sebastian Piñeratweetedthat his “thoughts and prayers” were with the families of those on board.
Photo: Fabrizio Gandolfo/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty
A Chilean Air Force plane carrying 38 passengers to a base in Antarctica is presumed to have crashed after it lost communication about an hour into its journey on Monday.The Air Force issued astatementsaying the C130 Hercules aircraft took off from an air base in the city of Punta Arenas just before 5 p.m. and lost radio contact just over an hour later en route to the President Eduardo Frei Montalva Antarctic Air Base.Seventeen crew members and 21 passengers — including three civilians — were on board, theAssociated Pressreported.A laterstatementfrom the Air Force released the names of all the passengers, and said it had made contact with their direct relatives.“The plane is presumed to have crashed, given that the amount of fuel and the plane’s autonomy had already run out,” Gen. Francisco Torres said at a press conference, according toCNN. “Given that, it is already assumed that the plane has crashed.”Relatives gather in Santiago, Chile.JAVIER TORRES/AFP via GettyThe aircraft was transferring personnel to “review the floating fuel supply pipeline of the Base and to carry out anticorrosive treatment of national facilities in the area,” according to the statement.Gen. Eduardo Mosqueira of the Fourth Air Brigade told local media that no emergency signals were activated before or after the plane lost contact, and that the route is one the Air Force flies monthly, the AP reported.Conditions were favorable at the time of take-off, with officials reportedly saying that the plane wouldn’t have flown had the weather not been good. Still, the area through which it was flying is known for rapidly changing conditions with freezing temperatures and strong winds.The Air Force said that with the help of aircrafts, satellites and ships, it would continue searching the area near where communication was lost.Chilean President Sebastian Piñeratweetedthat his “thoughts and prayers” were with the families of those on board.
A Chilean Air Force plane carrying 38 passengers to a base in Antarctica is presumed to have crashed after it lost communication about an hour into its journey on Monday.
The Air Force issued astatementsaying the C130 Hercules aircraft took off from an air base in the city of Punta Arenas just before 5 p.m. and lost radio contact just over an hour later en route to the President Eduardo Frei Montalva Antarctic Air Base.
Seventeen crew members and 21 passengers — including three civilians — were on board, theAssociated Pressreported.
A laterstatementfrom the Air Force released the names of all the passengers, and said it had made contact with their direct relatives.
“The plane is presumed to have crashed, given that the amount of fuel and the plane’s autonomy had already run out,” Gen. Francisco Torres said at a press conference, according toCNN. “Given that, it is already assumed that the plane has crashed.”
Relatives gather in Santiago, Chile.JAVIER TORRES/AFP via Getty
The aircraft was transferring personnel to “review the floating fuel supply pipeline of the Base and to carry out anticorrosive treatment of national facilities in the area,” according to the statement.
Gen. Eduardo Mosqueira of the Fourth Air Brigade told local media that no emergency signals were activated before or after the plane lost contact, and that the route is one the Air Force flies monthly, the AP reported.
Conditions were favorable at the time of take-off, with officials reportedly saying that the plane wouldn’t have flown had the weather not been good. Still, the area through which it was flying is known for rapidly changing conditions with freezing temperatures and strong winds.
The Air Force said that with the help of aircrafts, satellites and ships, it would continue searching the area near where communication was lost.
Chilean President Sebastian Piñeratweetedthat his “thoughts and prayers” were with the families of those on board.
source: people.com
