The Peruvian air force has detected with satellite signals the rough location of a missing local helicopter carrying 14 people, including eight South Koreans, a South Korean diplomat in Lima said Thursday.
The helicopter was located between the cities of Mazuco and Cusco in southeastern Peru at a latitude of 13 degrees and 27 minutes south and a longitude of 71 degrees and seven minutes west, Kim Wan-jung, a minister at the South Korean Embassy in Lima, told Yonhap News Agency.
"The Peruvian air force has found the coordinates of the global positioning system (GPS) signals apparently sent from the missing helicopter," Kim said. "The signals were detected at around 11 a.m. today and the exact coordinates were confirmed at around 4 p.m."
The helicopter was last in touch with a control center on Wednesday, around one hour after it left Mazuko for Cusco.
South Korea's foreign ministry identified the eight South Koreans as employees of Samsung C&T, the Korea Water Resources Corp., the Korea Engineering Consultants Corp. and Seoyeong Engineering. They were returning from a trip to a potential hydropower plant site near Mazuko.
Search efforts by helicopter were suspended earlier in the day due to bad weather conditions, Kim said, adding that the search is expected to resume Friday morning.
