New information about the missing Cessna 172 in Tirúa, Chile, has been uncovered

A villager in the coastal town of Quidico, South of Lebu, discovered the backpack of one of the passengers, Jorge Luengo Espinoza.

BÍO BÍO – On October 13, 2013 the Chilean Air Force confirmed that a backpack belonging to one of the passengers aboard the missing plane in Tirúa was found. It was confirmed that at 10:30 p.m. a villager found a backpack that belonged to Jorge Luengo Espinoza, 25-years-old, in the area of Punta Morguilla, located south of Lebu. Inside were documents, which were immediately reported to the port captain and later handed over to the PDI.

Meanwhile, the Commander in Chief of Air Brigade III, General Iván Travisany, told Channel 24 Horas that in the backpack “there was a notebook that had the name of Jorge Luengo and other belongings that were given to his family and they recognized them as his. The backpack is in good condition and so are the belongings inside.”

When asked if the backpack was found within the search area General Travisany said that, “for the information we collected from the mobile phone company we established a point that is farther South but we estimate, based on the current elements, that the elements are moving northward, there are north south currents, and those could correspond to the point that we are tracing.”

The aircraft disappeared on October 6, 2013 during a flight between Mocha Island and Tirúa (in the Bío Bío Region) that should have taken no more than 15 minutes. The plane is thought to be a Cessna C172 with registration CC-PXC though information has not been confirmed.

The pilot, Mario Hahn Cortés, lost all communication with his family after which they called in the alert. Supposedly traveling aboard the aircraft were four other occupants: Jorge Luengo Espinoza and his son and also Lesly Roa and her partner.

After the disappearance was activated, a search group from the Navy, with the help of helicopters from the institution and boats of local fishermen, began looking for the missing plane and passengers. There was no news until the discovery of Espinoza’s backpack yesterday. The search will continue in hopes of recovering the aircraft and all missing passengers.
 
By Claire Knowles 

An American college student studying abroad in Chile trying to navigate the streets of Santiago, the Spanish language, and find the best chorrillana.

Source:  http://www.ilovechile.cl