Consul in Madrid requests list of nationalities to confirm that no Chileans were in plane crash

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SANTIAGO.- The Chilean consul in Madrid, Rodrigo Quiroga, has for the moment ruled out the possibility that any Chilean citizens were among the victims of the plane crash yesterday at the Barajas Airport in Spain, which left 153 people dead.

"In order to confirm this definitively, we will need to have an official list of the nationalities of the victims and there is still none", Quiroga told Emol.

The diplomat warned however that such a list would take quite a while to be completed or  might never be completed at all, because "nowadays taking a national flight within Spain or any other European country is like taking a bus, the nationalities of the passengers are not recorded".

Additionally, many Chileans have acquired Spanish nationality and, for all internal purposes, they are considered Spanish citizens.

Nevertheless, Quiroga insisted that the consulate has not received any calls from Chilean families worried about a relative, which "gives the impression that we are more or less in the clear".