The 74-year-old billionaire tycoon died in an accident at the popular holiday resort Lago Ranco in southern Chile.
Former Chilean president Sebastián Piñera, a billionaire tycoon who twice held the South American nation's top office, died in a helicopter crash, his office said in a statement.
“It is with deep regret that we announce the death of the former president of the Republic of Chile,” Tuesday's statement said, adding that Piñera, 74, had died in the popular vacation spot Lago Ranco, about 920 kilometers (570 miles) from south of Santiago.
The Minister of the Interior of Chile, Carolina Toha, confirmed the death of the former president. No further details about the cause of the accident were immediately released.
Chile's national disaster agency, SENAPRAD, confirmed that one person had died and three had been injured. The government did not immediately identify who was on board.
Piñera, also a successful businessman, oversaw rapid economic growth and a sharp drop in unemployment during his first presidency from 2010 to 2014, at a time when many of Chile's trading partners and neighbors faced much slower growth.
His second presidency from 2018 to 2022 was marked by violent protests against inequality that led to accusations of human rights violations and ended the government's promise to draft a new constitution.
Piñera was the owner of the fifth largest fortune in Chile, estimated at about 3 billion dollars. He worked as an academic at various universities for almost 20 years and as a consultant to the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank.
As a businessman from the 1970s to the 1990s, he worked in a variety of industries, including real estate. He owned shares in major airlines, as well as telecommunications, real estate and electrical companies. He also created one of the largest credit card companies in the country. In 2009 he handed over the management of his business to others.
He entered politics representing the center right, which was the civilian support of the military regime. At the same time, he distanced himself from the government of General Augusto Pinochet between 1973 and 1990, when more than 3,000 suspected leftists were murdered or “disappeared.”
Piñera ran for president of Chile three times. In 2006, she lost to socialist Michelle Bachelet; Then, in 2010, she defeated former President Eduardo Frei. Four years into her first term, in 2018, she won a second four-year term after defeating a left-wing independent.
Twelve days before the start of his first term, an 8.8 magnitude earthquake and tsunami claimed the lives of 525 people and devastated the infrastructure of south-central Chile.
Piñera's government agenda was postponed to address emergency reconstruction. In 2010, she also led the unprecedented rescue of 33 miners trapped for 69 days at the bottom of a mine in the Atacama Desert, which captured the world's attention.
The event became a global media sensation and was the subject of a 2014 film, The 33.
He closed his administration having created approximately one million jobs.
