Plane Went Down More Than 50 Years Ago With Eight Members Of Green Cross Soccer Team On Board

Mountaineers say they have found wreckage of a Douglas DC-3 that went down 54 years ago in the Chilean Andes Mountains, ending a half-century-old mystery.

Fox News reports that the plane had 24 people on board, including eight members of the Green Cross soccer team, which was part of Chile's top division. The plane went missing on April 3, 1961. The players were returning from Santiago after playing a match in the southern Chilean city of Osorno. Three referees also were among those on board who were fatally injured.

The wreckage was located at an altitude of 10,500 feet some 215 miles south of the Chilean capital of Santiago.

Expedition member Leonardo Albornoz said that the exact location was being kept secret to prevent looting of the site. Scattered debris and bones were found, and the wreckage was not where official publications indicated it should be, according to mountaineers.

(DC-3 pictured in file photo)

FMI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_de_Deportes_Green_Cross