Chile's ex-president Pinera dies in helicopter crash

Former Chilean President Sebastian Pinera has died from asphyxiation due to submersion after the helicopter he was piloting crashed into a lake in southern Chile.

Chile's Legal Medical Service, the state coroner's office, in the southern city of Valdivia conducted an autopsy overnight on Pinera, who died at the age of 74, before his remains were sent to receive state honours in the Chilean capital on Wednesday.

"As the prosecutor's office, we are now in a position to be able to inform the community that the medical-legal cause of the death of former President Sebastian Pinera is asphyxiation due to submersion," Tatiana Esquivel, the local prosecutor where the accident happened, told reporters.

Esquivel added that they still haven't determined the cause of the accident but that forensic data is allowing them to develop a "more probable theory" and a specialised team is currently investigating the crash site.

On Tuesday, the helicopter carrying the two-time president of Chile crashed in the waters of Lake Ranco, which is located in a tourist area of ​​lakes, forests and volcanoes in southern Chile, shortly after takeoff.

Starting on Wednesday, the remains of the former president will remain at the headquarters of the former Congress in Santiago.

The viewing will be private before being opened to the public and a funeral will be held on Friday.

Fifth-largest fortune

Serving as president from 2010 to 2014 and again from 2018 to 2022, Pinera led the South American nation during moments of crisis, including the aftermath of an 8.8 magnitude earthquake and tsunami.

He gained a spotlight for his administration's rescue of trapped Chilean miners in 2010, and his governance during the coronavirus pandemic, when Chile was placed among the top five countries for vaccination rates for the illness.

His legacy is marred by violent police repression in October 2019 against protesters who were demonstrating against the country's education, health and pension systems dating to the country's 1973-1990 military rule.

The social unrest ultimately led to two attempts to update the constitution that was inherited from the military government, but both have failed.

Pinera was the owner of the fifth-largest fortune in Chile, estimated at some $3 billion. He worked as an academic in several universities for almost 20 years and as a consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank.

When he closed his time in office, he had created an estimated 1 million jobs.

He entered politics representing the centre-right, which was the civilian support of the military regime. However, when he served as an independent senator, he voted against the extension of dictator Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).

He ran three times for president of Chile. In 2006, he lost to socialist Michelle Bachelet; then in 2010 he defeated former President Eduardo Frei and was elected in 2010.

Four years later, in 2018, he won a second four-year term after defeating a leftist independent.

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Source: TRT