Authorities resumed a search yesterday for bodies of those missing in the crash of a Chilean air force plane that is believed to have killed all 21 people aboard during an attempt to land on a remote Pacific island.
Only four bodies have been recovered since the Casa 212 turbo-prop plane went down late on Friday off Robinson Crusoe island, but Chilean officials said there was no hope of survivors as all aboard would have been killed on impact.
General Maximiliano Larraechea, the air force chief of staff, said yesterday the search would continue “until we find each one” of the 17 missing. He said the Chilean navy was using sonar equipment to try to locate the fuselage of the aircraft, where the remaining crash victims are likely to be found.
“Yesterday, the bodies of some victims surfaced fairly rapidly, which leads us to believe that the rest are with the fuselage,” Mr Larraechea said.
Among those aboard was the star of a daily morning show on Chilean state TV, Felipe Camiroaga, who was travelling to report on reconstruction on Robinson Crusoe which was devastated last year by a massive earthquake and tsunami.
Robinson Crusoe is the main island of the Juan Fernandez archipelago, which lies in the Pacific some 700 kilometres west of the South American coastline. The island was made famous by 18th century British author Daniel Defoe, who used it as the setting of his popular novel Robinson Crusoe. Chilean Defence Minister Andres Allamand told reporters Saturday that the air force plane had made two abortive attempts to land before radio contact was lost. Strong winds were being blamed for causing the light aircraft to be blown off course, but the cause of the crash was not immediately known.
Government spokesman Andres Chadwick said the bodies identified were those of Erwin Nunez, an air force corporal; Galia Diaz, with the National Cultural Council; Roberto Bruce, a TVN network journalist; and Silvia Slager, a TVN producer. President Sebastian Pinera said that while he was not losing hope, he was not optimistic.
Pope Benedict XVI said he was “deeply saddened” to learn of the accident, in a message relayed by the archbishop of Santiago, Ricardo Ezzati.