No-one survived after a Chilean military plane which disappeared with 38 people on board, it has been confirmed.
Human remains have been found in he ocean after the C-130 Hercules went down en route to the Antarctic.
The aircraft was transporting 17 crew members and 21 passengers, but the head of Chile's air
force Arturo Merino told reporters, there were no survivors.
The aircraft, which was heading to a military base in Antarctica, disappeared shortly after taking off late on Monday from the southern city of Punta Arenas in Chilean Patagonia.
"The condition of the remains we discovered make it practically impossible that anyone could have survived the
airplane accident," Mr Merino said.
Extreme weather conditions, including low clouds, strong winds and massive, rolling ocean swells initially complicated search efforts following the plane's disappearance.
The first pieces of debris from the plane were discovered by Chilean air force officials late on Wednesday.
A Brazilian ship sailing in the region also found pieces of the plane.
Mr Merino said authorities would immediately conduct forensic analyses on the remains to confirm their origin.
Chile's Legal Medical Service, the state coroner, had also sent a team to Punta Arenas to analyze the blood of family members earlier on Thursday.
The plane crashed over the Drake Sea, a vast untouched ocean wilderness off the southernmost edge of the South American continent that plunges to 3,500 meters (11,500 feet).
