Former Chilean President Sebastian Dies In Helicopter Crash

Chilean Former President Sebastián Piñera, who served two terms and was also a billionaire businessman, has died in a helicopter crash at the age of 74.

Three other people aboard the aircraft survived when it came down in a lake near the southern town of Lago Ranco.

A post-mortem carried out on Piñera’s body, which had earlier been recovered from the submerged helicopter, showed he had drowned.

National mourning has been declared and tributes have poured in.

Piñera was spending his holidays with his family in the lakeside resort of Bahía Coique, 920km (570 miles) south of the capital, Santiago.

The  Former President often used his private helicopter to travel around the area and officials have confirmed he was piloting it when it crashed at around 15:30 local time (18:30 GMT) on Tuesday.

Aviation expert Eddie Miceli told CNN that the former president was “an excellent pilot”.

Piñera had reportedly had lunch with his friend, businessman José Cox, on the southern shore of Lake Ranco and was heading back to the northern shore when his helicopter ran into problems.

It was raining at the time and there was considerable cloud but an investigation is under way to establish what exactly caused the helicopter to go down just minutes after taking off.

BBC