Search for plane lost in Aisén suspended due to bad weather

PUERTO MONTT.- Adverse weather conditions in the Region of Aisén have lead to a suspension in the search for a small Cessna plane, which disappeared Saturday afternoon with 10 people on board, until at least noon today.

Heavy rains, strong winds and low visibility forced search efforts that had been scheduled to begin this morning to be cancelled, leaving the three planes and two helicopters (one from the Army and the other from the National Police) involved in the mission to wait for conditions to improve.

At noon today, authorities in charge of the case will determine whether or not weather conditions will allow for the search to be resumed.

The only clue as to where the Cessna plane may be located is an emergency signal being emitted from the aircraft, which has allowed searchers to fence off a search area named “Estero Yeco”, located 18 kilometers from La Junta.

Nevertheless, very low altitude flyovers performed in the area yesterday failed to yield any favorable results, since dense native forest makes visibility from the air difficult.