21 missing as Chilean air force plane crashes

The CASA military plane is believed to have crashed in the ocean near the Juan Fernandez Islands after it tried twice to land at the airport but strong wind gusts buffeted the aircraft and it later was lost from sight.

International news agency report the mayor of the islands that whilst rescuers in boats were searching for the plane, some luggage had been found in the water and it was clear the plane crashed.

“We assume that there was an accident and that there are no survivors,” mayor Leopoldo Gonzalez said.

According to the Associated Press, popular Chilean television personality Felipe Camiroaga was flying to the island to do a program on the reconstruction of Juan Fernandez island following the magnitude-8.8 earthquake and tsunami that wiped out its main town on February 27, 2010.