Chile enlists psychic in search for plane crash victims. CASA C-212 Aviocar 300DF. Isla Robinsón Crusoe Airport, Chile.

Chilean authorities have called in a psychic to find the bodies of 17 people still missing after a military plane crash near the remote Robinson Crusoe Island in the Pacific Ocean.

"We are working with a person who is on one of the (search) boats," Defence Minister Andres Allamand told national Chilean TV in response to a question of whether a medium was taking part in recovery efforts.

"Not only are we using all of our technological capabilities, but also all the human and superhuman abilities that may exist," he said.

Mr Allamand, who has been on the island since Saturday (local time), earlier sought to lower expectations that all the victims' bodies will be recovered.

"We must prepare for the possibility that we will not find some of the bodies," he warned.

The Chilean government has organised a huge search in waters off the island where the plane went down late on Friday (local time) carrying 21 people.

On Sunday (local time), officials declared two days of national mourning, while only four bodies and a small amount of aircraft debris have been found so far.

The search continued on Sunday even though the government said there was no hope anyone survived the crash.

The air force plane had made two abortive attempts to land at Robinson Crusoe before radio contact was lost.

The victims included one of the country's best-known television personalities.

Thousands gathered at state broadcaster TVN to remember daily morning talk show host Felipe Camiroaga, who was travelling to the island with a crew to report on reconstruction efforts after a massive earthquake and tsunami caused devastation last year.

Robinson Crusoe, believed to have been the setting for the famous novel by 18th century British author Daniel Defoe, is the main island of the Juan Fernandez archipelago, which lies in the Pacific about 700 kilometres west of the South American coastline.

The Chilean navy is using sonar equipment to try to locate the fuselage of the aircraft, which officials believe may hold the remaining crash victims.

http://www.abc.net.au