The plane took off from Punta Arenas, and air traffic control lost contact with it around an hour later. Seventeen crew and 21 passengers were on the aircraft, who were travelling to King George Island to provide logistical support to a military base. A search and rescue mission is underway.

An air force statement that the plane was about 450 miles into its 770-mile journey when contact was lost, placing it within the Drake Passage, a body of water connecting the South Atlantic and South Pacific Oceans, and is known for treacherous weather conditions – the Air Force said, however, that local weather was good at the time of the plane’s disappearance.