Thursday, February 8, 2024 – Former Chilean President, Sebastián Piñera saved the lives of three passengers, including his sister, by ordering them to jump from his helicopter before he was killed in a horrifying crash.
Karla Rubilar, the former social development and family
minister, told Chile's Canal 24 that Piñera told the survivors, ‘You jump first
because if I jump with you, the helicopter will fall on you.’
The aircraft, with the former president aboard, then crashed
into a lake in the southern municipality of Lago Ranco on Tuesday during heavy
rain.
Piñera, 74, who served from 2010-2014 and 2018-2022, was on
vacation with his family and was travelling with his sister Magdalena Piñera
and two friends, Ignacio Guerrero and his son Bautista Guerrero.
The trio had earlier had lunch at the home of his university
classmate, José Cox.
A fire department diver found President Piñera's body lying
inside the helicopter, which was 91 feet under the water's surface.
It took divers about 10 minutes to retrieve the body and
place it on a boat.
'The extraction was not complex, since the weather
conditions, temperature, water, wind, depth and survey, were favourable for
free diving,' Los Ríos regional prosecutor Ricardo González said, according to
La Tercera newspaper.
'He was a great man, a very generous and very brave man,'
Magdalena Piñera told Chilean news network Meganoticias on Tuesday night.
Rubilar, who served as spokesperson during the former
president's second term in office, said his final words were typical of a
leader who put others before himself.
She said President Piñera wanted to assist the
administration of President Gabriel Boric with the recovery efforts following
the wildfires that killed 131 people and burned 3,000 homes last week in the
Valparaíso region.
'The one who told us yesterday, 'Help this government, no
matter what the opposition was like, help it, because Chile comes first.' The
man who tells you, 'You jump first, because I can't think about myself, because
the helicopter could fall on us', being his last words (...) that was the
president,' Rubilar said.
An autopsy showed that Piñera's death was caused by
asphyxiation due to submersion, according to Los Ríos regional prosecutor
Tatiana Esquivel.
Esquivel said 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 specialized team is currently investigating the crash
site.
Piñera's remains were sent to receive state honours in
Santiago, the Chilean capital, on Wednesday.
The former president's body will remain at the headquarters
of the former Congress in Santiago.
A private viewing will be held before being opened to the
public and a funeral will be held on Friday.
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