3 Canadians on plane missing in Antarctica

Rescuers are searching for three Canadians aboard an airplane that’s presumed to have gone down in Antarctica.

New Zealand’s Rescue Co-ordination Centre is looking for a Twin Otter after signals were received from the plane’s emergency locator transmitter.

The plane was flying from the South Pole to an Italian base in Terra Nova Bay.

U.S. authorities at McMurdo Station, an American research station on the frozen continent, is also involved in the search.

A U.S. search plane has already flown to where the beacon’s signal originated but was unable to spot the downed aircraft.

“United States authorities at McMurdo were asked for assistance,” said a release from the centre.

The beacon is transmitting from the northern end of the continent’s Queen Alexandra mountain range, in the same region as McMurdo.

A second Twin Otter was scheduled to fly over the site. It is to be joined in the search by a helicopter from New Zealand’s Scott Base, a research station located near McMurdo.

A joint New Zealand-U.S. field team will be aboard the helicopter.

Search conditions in the area are considered poor, with heavy cloud cover and increasing winds.

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