According to Chilean government sources who spoke to the news outlet, La Tercera, the ex-president died in the crash at around 3 p.m. local time. First responders went to the crash site of the helicopter that had been carrying four passengers but only three survived the crash.
A former advisor to Pinera confirmed to Reuters that the former president did not survive.
Pinera had just gone to get lunch at the house of businessman José Cox when the incident occurred.
Chilean national disaster agency SENAPRAD confirmed that there was a helicopter crash that occurred in the southern town of Lago Ranco.
Pinera served two terms from 2010 to 2014 as well as from 2018 to 2022. He was one of the only right-leaning presidents to serve in office for decades in the country. He took harsh stances on corruption and organized crime.
During his campaign he vouched for applying business knowledge to the government in order to improve its function.
The former president was the son of a prominent politician, studied economics at Harvard, and introduced credit cards to the county in the 1980s. He owned a large stake of Latam Airlines which he later sold prior to becoming president in 2010 to avoid conflicts of interest.
