Santiago  - The pilot of a helicopter that crashed in southern Chile, killing 12 firefighters combatting a forest fire, had flown the presidential plane for two presidents, local media reported Monday.

Eduardo Canala Pecchenino, 39, was on active duty for the Chilean Air Force and worked for the private firm operating the firefighting helicopter with permission from the military.

Santiago - The pilot of a helicopter that crashed in southern Chile, killing 12 firefighters combatting a forest fire, had flown the presidential plane for two presidents, local media reported Monday.

Eduardo Canala Pecchenino, 39, was on active duty for the Chilean Air Force and worked for the private firm operating the firefighting helicopter with permission from the military.

He and 12 firefighters who had been working since Friday to quench forest fires in the central Chilean region of Maule were killed when their helicopter crashed on Sunday. There were no survivors.

Santiago de Chile  - Thirteen people died in a helicopter crash in the central Maule region of Chile while on a forest fire- fighting mission, according to a report on Chilean television, Channel 13.

Civil aeronautics officials said the pilot and 12 fire brigade members died in the crash.

Colonel Luis Gutierrez, prefect of Linares, said there appeared to be no survivors, and that recovery of bodies will be difficult from the remote site of the accident.

The accident took place about 1600 Sunday.

Havana  - Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who has not been seen in public since 2006, was "very agile and active," said Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, Cuban media reported Friday.

"He is in very good condition, we talked for long," Bachelet told reporters late Thursday after the meeting.

"Someone who spends an hour and a half talking (is) well, very well, very agile, active as always," said the Chilean president, a doctor by training.

Havana  - Chilean President Michelle Bachelet arrived for an official visit in the Cuban capital Havana Tuesday evening for a landmark visit.

Bachelet's trip is viewed as being of great bilateral importance, as it is the first time in 37 years that a Chilean leader visits the Communist island state.

She is scheduled to meet with her Cuban counterpart Raul Castro on Wednesday. A meeting with ailing revolutionary leader Fidel Castro was also possible, officials said.

Copiapo, Chile - Spanish motorcyclist Cristobal Guerrero remains in a coma following his crash Tuesday on the 10th stage of the Dakar Rally through the Atacama Desert.

"The rider landed with full force on his head in the crash," Ana Quiroga, head of the Atacama regional health authority, told Chilean radio Wednesday.

Guerrero lapsed into a coma following the accident on his KTM motorbike after 160 kilometres of the 467km-long stage and was airlifted to a hospital in Copiapo.