HUMAN remains have been found after a plane carrying 38 people disappeared en-route to Antartica on Monday according to a Chilean regional governor.

Jose Fernandez, governor of Magallanes, the region from which the plane took off, said the families of the missing had been informed.

Three civilians are counted among the lost, including 24-year-old chemical engineering student Ignacio Parada, who was heading to the Antarctic base for an internship.

The Chilean air force has not yet confirmed that bodies have been discovered, although it has said that debris conceivably from the wreckage has been located.

READ MORE: Chile riots leave more than 2000 people arrested

General Eduardo Mosqueira said “the sponges of the internal fuel tanks” had possibly been found floating 20 miles from where the C-130 Hercules aircraft last made radio contact, although no emergency beacons were activated.

The debris will be analysed to see if it corresponds to the missing plane, Mosqueira said, adding that the process could take up to two days.

The plane was flying from the town of Punta Arenas in southern Chile to the Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva base on King George Island, just north of the Antarctic peninsula.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro tweeted that the Admiral Maximiano Polar Vessel of his nation’s navy had found “personal items and wreckage” that seemed to be from the missing Chilean plane.

Chile’s air force said both pilots were extensively experienced and although the plane was built in 1978, it was a “workhorse”, in good condition and well-maintained.