The Chilean government said it was considering dead all 21 people aboard a Chilean air force plane that crashed into the Pacific on its way to a remote archipelago.
"Based on observations and the search we carried out with the air force commander, we have reached the conclusion that the impact was such that it should have resulted in the instantaneous death of all of those who were aboard the aircraft," Chilean Defence Minister Andres Allamand told reporters Saturday.
A major search operation had been launched late Friday in the waters around Robinson Crusoe island in the Juan Fernandez islands, some 700 kilometers (435 miles) west of the South American coastline, and some debris from the missing plane has been located in the sea.
So far, only four bodies have been recovered. "We have found two female bodies and two male bodies," said air force chief Maximiliano Larraechea.
As Chile's navy and air force headed the search, fishermen in their boats left the archipelago early Saturday in the hope of turning up survivors.
Allamand said the plane, a turboprop-powered Casa 212, made two attempts to land on the main island but failed, "after which contact was lost." Strong winds were being blamed for causing the light aircraft to be blown off course, but it was unclear what had definitively caused the crash.
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