OREANDA-NEWS.The Chilean Air Force plane, missing on the way to Antarctica, crashed, a search is underway for survivors. This was announced on Tuesday by the Republican Air Force press service. "The Air Force reports that the Hercules C130 aircraft is considered crashed seven hours after the loss of radio contact", the report said.

Earlier, he said that "Landing on water is possible", - quotes the radio station Cooperativa. According to Mosqueira, the fuel that the missing Hercules C130 plane had was enough to stay in the air until 00:40 Tuesday local time (06:40 Moscow time).

Earlier, the Chilean Air Force press service reported that the Hercules C130 aircraft, carrying 17 crew members and 21 passengers, flew on Monday at 16:55 (22:55 Moscow time) from Punta Arenas to the Antarctic base named after President Eduardo Frey Montalva. At 18:13 (00:13 Tuesday Moscow time), the ship stopped communicating. According to the Air Force, the personnel on board were to inspect the pipeline supplying fuel to the base. Chilean President Sebastian Pinhera said he was heading to an air force base in the capital to monitor a search and rescue operation.