The disappearance of LAN Chile Flight 210 in 1961 was one of the great unsolved mysteries in aviation.
En route from Castro, Chile to capital Santiago, the plane, a Douglas DC-3, vanished over the Andes mountain range and despite weeks of searching, was never recovered.
Interest in the incident, which killed 24 people, was heightened by the fact the plane was carrying eight members of a famous soccer team, CD Green Cross.
Now, 54 years after the event, a team of mountaineers has apparently found the wreckage of the plane.
Located at an altitude of around 3,200 metres, about 360 kilometres south of Santiago, the crash site is captured on video and is so well preserved it looks like it could have occurred much more recently than over half a century ago, according to the UK Mirror.
“A large part of the fuselage is still intact and a lot of material including human bones are scattered around the wreck,” Expedition member Leonardo Albornoz said.
“This story is being rewritten because they’re not where official publications indicated.”
Image AP/Leonardo Albornoz
Speaking to Chile’s Channel 7, Albornoz said the expedition team wanted to keep the exact location secret to prevent possible looting.
“It was an overwhelming moment and we felt all kinds of sensations. One could feel the energy of the location and breathe in the pain,” he said.
With 25 caps for Argentina, Elisa Mourino was probably the best-known player to have perished in the disaster.
On 6 February 1958, a plane crash in Munich claimed the lives of 23 people, including eight Manchester United players.
Several years later, a plane carrying 45 people, including a rugby union team, crashed in the Andes on the border of Chile and Argentina. Now known as the ‘Miracle of the Andes’, 16 people survived the incident.
Top image: DC3 | Brian Lockett
