“You jump first”: what was the death of Sebastián Piñera like?

The prosecutor of Los Ríos, Tatiana Esquivel, confirmed this Wednesday that the cause of death of former president Sebastián Piñera was asphyxiation due to submersion.

The former president suffered an accident while flying his helicopter, a Robinson R44, from the house of his friend José Cox, in the Ilihue sector in Lago Ranco, in the Los Ríos region.

The aircraft plunged into the water at 2:57 p.m., according to reports provided by Carabineros, and three of the crew members who accompanied it, his sister Magdalena Piñera and his friend Ignacio Guerrero along with his son Bautista, managed to escape unharmed.

Not so the businessman, who went down with the ship.

As detailed in a television program by Karla Rubilar, the former Minister of Social Development of her second Government, the former president's sister, Magdalena Piñera, who was one of the passengers on the helicopter, told details of what happened inside the aircraft and what They would have been Sebastián Piñera's last words before the accident.

“You jump first, because if I jump with you the helicopter is going to fall on you,” she would have told the three crew members before falling into the lake and losing her life.

His body was rescued by Lago Ranco fire personnel after 4 p.m. and was taken by boat to the Harbor Master's Office.

Ricardo González, the Fire Department diver who participated in the Lago Ranco Fire Department dive, told the Prosecutor's Office and relatives of the former president that in a matter of minutes they managed to find the body, which was floating outside the aircraft.

“The extraction was not complex, since the weather conditions, temperature, water, wind, depth and survey were favorable for free diving,” Ricardo González explained to the prosecutor, as detailed by La Tercera.

Likewise, he said that Sebastián Piñera's body was found without a seat belt or elements that would hold him to the depths of the lake.

“He was free, without his belt, on the side of the helicopter, 28 meters deep,” he said.

The tests carried out by the Legal Medical Service, after the autopsy carried out on Tuesday night, confirmed the causes of his death.

The information was first delivered to the former president's family and then confirmed by the Los Ríos prosecutor.

“As the Prosecutor's Office we are already in a position to inform the community that the medical-legal cause of former President Sebastián Piñera is asphyxiation due to submersion,” said Tatiana Esquivel during the morning.

Regarding the versions that during Tuesday afternoon spoke that the former president had suffered a heart attack, the prosecutor ruled out that information and said that so far the investigation has not provided any indication about that theory.

“Forensic or medical-legal expertise does allow us to develop a more probable theory of what the dynamics of this plane crash would have been like.

As we pointed out, at this moment in parallel there is a technical team that is dedicated to carrying out all the expert reports that have to do with the helicopter where the accident occurred,” she stated.

As indicated, at the time of the accident in the Lago Ranco sector, winds of more than 40 kilometers per hour, rain and high cloud cover were recorded.

Following the background of the autopsy, the regional prosecutor has ordered the opening of an ex officio investigation to clarify the circumstances under which the incident occurred.

“Now what is coming are the expert reports related to the helicopter that crashed in Lake Ranco to be able to establish the cause and origin of the accident, obtain complementary information and be able to find out the dynamics of the events,” he said.

The Homicide Brigade and the Criminalistics Laboratory of the Investigative Police, in addition to the Gope de Carabineros, participate in the investigations.

“The stories (of the crew members who were saved alive) are data analyzed with technical expertise and allow us to help reconstruct the cause and origin of this accident,” Esquivel pointed out.

Investigative Police agents analyze the area where the aircraft piloted by Piñera fell, in Lake Ranco, this Wednesday. Investigative Police (Investigative Police / EFE)

The conversation with Boric

Piñera was at his home in Bahía Coique on vacation with his wife Cecilia Morel, his sister Magdalena Piñera and some of his grandchildren.

As he usually does every summer, the former president visits his friends who spend the summer in nearby areas, either by boat, car or helicopter, depending on the distance.

Days before the fatal accident, he had visited by helicopter with his friend Ignacio Guerrero, who accompanied him on the aircraft minutes before his death, and his former Minister of Housing, Rodrigo Pérez Mackenna, Tantauco Park, a private conservation reserve, which Piñera has owned the property since 2006 on the island of Chiloé in the Los Lagos region.

A journey in which they had also flown over the Futaleufú area, in continental Chiloé.

Likewise, on Monday, February 5, he had visited Camping Futrono by boat to meet with another group of friends, according to La Tercera.

That night, the former president received a call from the Minister of Social Development of the current Government, Javiera Toro, who is in charge of reconstruction after the fires in the Valparaíso region, with whom he spoke for about half an hour to share his experience later. of the 2010 earthquake. Minutes later, according to La Tercera, he spoke by phone with President Gabriel Boric, with whom he spoke about the grace pensions granted by both this and the current Government after the social outbreak.

On that occasion, Piñera would have offered him help in the post-fire reconstruction work in the south-central area.

That same day in the morning, Piñera had been meeting with several of his former ministers by videoconference to coordinate the delivery of a document to the Boric Administration to support the reconstruction efforts after the tragedy that occurred over the weekend that already totals 131 people. deceased.

"The president (Piñera) was asking us to help this Government, legitimately, in a very low profile, he told us 'don't tell it, let it stay below, let's help the President for the reconstruction, let's make ourselves available.'

He asked us to call the ministers, he asked us to write to him.

Why do I tell it?

Because that was him,” former minister Karla Rubilar revealed this Tuesday on a television program.

Subscribe here

to the EL PAÍS Chile newsletter and receive all the key information on current events in the country.