Chile: Military Plane With 38 Passengers Missing

A C-130 Hercules military aircraft with 38 people aboard has gone missing in Chile.

According to Chile's Air Force, it was said to have “lost radio communication” after take off from the south of the country, headed to a base in Antarctica. 

The plane that disappeared on Monday had 17 people aboard as crew members and 21 other passengers.

Chile's president, Sebastian Pinera said that he would be flying to Punta Arenas with the Minister of Interior, Gonzalo Blumel, where they would convene with the Minister of Defense, Alberto Espina, to keep an eye on the search and rescue mission.

“A C-130 Hercules aircraft took off at 16:55 (19:55 GMT) from the city of Punta Arenas to the President Eduardo Frei Antarctic Base,” a statement by the country's Air Force.

The Air Force said it began a search and rescue operation with Chilean Navy vessels after it had declared a state of alert after the control tower had lost communication with the aircraft at 6:13 pm.