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LAN-Chile Flight 621

3 Apr 1961 · La Gotera Hill, Chile

LAN Chile Douglas DC-3 · Undetermined, but most likely controlled flight into terrain or stall due to ice on wings

From Maquehue Airport (PZS) to Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)

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Event

Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Accident
Event fatalities
24 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
Unknown
Survivors
0
InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
Unknown
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
Airline

Douglas DC-3

Aircraft type
Douglas DC-3
Category
Airplane · from aircraft type
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
CC-CLDP
Operator
LAN Chile
Onboard fatalities
24
Route
From Maquehue Airport (PZS)To Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)

Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.

From the Wikipedia article

LAN-Chile Flight 621 crashed in the Andes on 3 April 1961. All twenty-four people on board were killed, including eight professional footballers and two members of the coaching staff from CD Green Cross. It was Chile's worst ever aviation disaster at the time.

Accident

The Douglas DC-3 airliner was one of two aircraft used to transport the football team home after an away game. It was on a domestic flight from Castro to Santiago when it disappeared in the Andes. The last radio message reported ice covering the wings and propellers.

The tail of the aircraft and a few human remains were found on 10 April 1961. Some official accounts indicate the wreckage was located on La Gotera Hill in the Lastima-Pejerreymin Range; all on board had been assumed killed. Other contemporary accounts identify the crash site as Cerro Lastimas.

In February 2015 the aircraft's fuselage was discovered after more than 50 years in the Chilean Andes. A member of the expedition that found the wreckage was quoted as saying "So this story is getting a rewrite since this is not where original accounts said." While the climbers declined to provide a detailed position of their find, it is consistent with the terrain and altitude of Cerro Lastimas.

Text from the Wikipedia article “LAN-Chile Flight 621” (revision 1346476834, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article

Sources

Wikipedia article: LAN-Chile Flight 621
Article
LAN-Chile Flight 621
Revision
1346476834 · 2026-04-01 · retrieved 2026-09-18
Wikidata
Q3997251
Licence
Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
Record
Wikipedia article "LAN-Chile Flight 621" (page 45338581, revision 1346476834)
Date
Wikipedia infobox: date
Place and country
Wikipedia infobox: site
Map position
Wikipedia article coordinates
Aircraft, operator and route
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
Operation
flight number in the article title
Fatalities
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
Ground fatalities
not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
Summary
Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
  • Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.