Chilean Air Force says missing military plane is presumed to have crashed

Chile's Airforce said that a C-130 with 38 passengers that went missing on November 9 while it was on its flight path to Antarctica, is presumed to have crashed in the Drake Passage. In a public address, General Francisco Torres said that the Airforce plane most probably crashed owing to the amount of fuel it had in its tank.

Plane had 21 passengers, 17 crew members on board

The Air Force said that the plane had 21 passengers and 17 crew members on board who were tasked to repair the floating oil pipeline that provided fuel to the country's base in Antarctica. According to reports, the Airforce plane had people from the University of Magallanes, engineering company and the armed forces.

According to reports, the C-130 Hercules plane took off from Santiago and made a brief stop in Punta Arenas. The plane then took off towards the country's base in the Antarctic before it lost contact with authorities near Drake Passage, a passage between Antarctica's South Shetland Islands and South America's Cape Horn. The Chilean Air Force said that the last recorded position of the aircraft was 390 nautical miles from Punta Arenas and 280 nautical miles from its Antarctic base.

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According to reports, after the 4-engine plane lost all contact with authorities, the Air Force immediately scrambled a search and rescue team by using its available resources in the capital city of Santiago and the Magallanes region in South Chile. It is said that the concerned authorities continued their search operation in a hope to find survivors.

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C-130 Hercules plane

The 4-engine C-130 Hercules plane is used by the military of different countries and is used for ferrying troops, cargo and different equipments. The military plane can accommodate 90 armed forces personnel and up to 42,000 pounds of cargo. The C-130 can accommodate oversized cargo such as six-wheeled armoured vehicles and utility helicopters. The aircraft can also deliver precious cargo in rough areas using its high-flotation landing gear.

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(With inputs from agencies)