Chilean plane disappears with 38 on board

SANTIAGO: A Chilean military plane with 38 people aboard has gone missing after it took off from the country’s south for a base in Antarctica and is presumed to have crashed, authorities have said.

Seventeen of those on board the C-130 aircraft were crew and the others were passengers, Chile’s air force said on Monday. The plane is believed to have crashed and "all national and international air and maritime means available in the area are continuing the search (for survivors) in the sector where communications were lost with the aircraft," it added in a statement on Tuesday.

The four-engine aircraft took off Monday at 4:55 pm (19:55 GMT) from an airbase in the southern city of Punta Arenas and contact was lost at 6:13 pm. The air force said conditions for flying were good and that it was in contact with the families of those on board, many of whom were travelling to carry out logistical support tasks at the country’s largest Antarctic base Eduardo Frei.

Personnel were also being transferred to inspect the base’s floating fuel supply pipeline and undertake anti-corrosive treatment of the facility.

The air force also said that of the passengers on board, 15 were from its ranks, three were from the army, there were two people from a private construction company, and a Chile university official.