Former Chilean President Sebastián Piñera has died in a helicopter crash. Chile’s Interior Minister Carolina Tohá announced this at a press conference on Tuesday. President Gabriel Boric declared national mourning and ordered a state funeral.
The crash occurred in the municipality of Lago Ranco in the Región de Los Ríos, where, according to the Chilean newspaper La Tercera had rained heavily. The 74-year-old former head of state piloted the helicopter himself. He lost control near the shore of the lake of the same name, Lago Ranco, and fell into the water.
Three other occupants were able to swim to shore
According to the Interior Ministry, in addition to Piñera, there were three other people on board who were able to reach the shore under their own power after the crash and survived. Emergency services recovered the ex-president’s body from the water.
The conservative Piñera was president of the South American country from 2010 to 2014 and from 2018 to 2022. He was followed in March 2022 by the left-wing politician and current President Gabriel Boric.
Numerous past and present presidents from Latin America expressed their condolences. Argentina’s President Javier Milei expressed his condolences to the family, friends and the Chilean people on behalf of the Argentine state. Uruguay’s President Luis Lacalle Pou and Colombia’s former President Juan Manuel Santos also mourned. “Sebastián Piñera was a good personal friend and a great ally of Colombia,” Santos wrote on the platform X, formerly Twitter. Former Mexican President Felipe Calderón said: “Chile has lost one of its best presidents.”