CURACAVI, Chile, May 8, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Rescue workers in Chile are searching a central mountainous area for an air ambulance that crashed carrying six people, the civil aviation authority said.

The aircraft was carrying a patient when it lost contact with authorities near the Cerro El Roble mountain in the Curacavi area outside Santiago, the General Direction of Civil Aviation (DGAC) said late Wednesday.

"The Piper Cheyenne II civilian ambulance aircraft, registration CC-CCC, which took off from Santiago bound for Arica, crashed with six people on board," the DGAC posted on X.

"A major search operation has been launched."

Curacavi mayor Christian Hernandez told Chile's Television Nacional that the search area was "very difficult to access" due to its high altitude and damage by heavy rain to the access road.