Climbers 'find wreckage' of plane crash that killed Chilean football team, 54 years on

Chilean mountaineers say they have found the wreckage of a plane that crashed in the Andes 54 years ago, killing 24 people including eight members of a professional football team.

The group said they came across the wreckage at an altitude of about 10,500ft about 215 miles south of Santiago, the capital.

Expedition member Leonardo Albornoz told Chile's Channel 7 they are keeping the exact site secret to prevent looting.

The Douglas DC-3 plane, carrying members of the top-division Chilean team Green Cross, disappeared on April 3, 1961 after club had played an away match in Osorno.

The team and staff were spread over two flights. One of the planes reached Santiago and the other apparently vanished.

It was one of the great unsolved mysteries in the South American country's history and at the time stunned the sporting world.

Rescuers spent fruitless weeks searching for the missing plane and symbolic funerals for the missing players drew huge crowds in Chile.

Mr Albornoz said of apparently discovering the wreckage:

The mountaineers said they could see a substantial proportion of the fuselage without needing to dig it out and found scattered debris and bones. The location of the wreckage was not where official publications indicated it should be.

Green Cross played in Chile's first division until the club was dissolved in 1965.