SANTIAGO — Chile on Monday turned to the powers of a psychic to find the bodies of 17 people still missing after a military plane crash near the remote Robinson Crusoe island in the Pacific Ocean.

“We’re are working with a person who is on one of the (search) boats,” Defense Minister Andres Allamand told national Chilean TV in response to a question of whether a medium was taking part in recovery efforts.

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“Not only are we using all of our technological capabilities, but also all the human and superhuman abilities that may exist,” he said.

Allamand, who has been on the island since Saturday, said earlier, however, sought to lower expectations that all the victims bodies will be recovered.

“We must prepare for the possibility that we will not find some of the bodies,” said Allamand.

The Chilean government has organized a huge search in waters off the island where the plane went down late Friday carrying 21 people .

On Sunday, officials declared two days of national mourning, while only four bodies and a small amount of aircraft debris have been found so far.

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The search continued on Sunday even though the government said there was no hope that anyone survived the crash.

The air force plane had made two abortive attempts to land at Robinson Crusoe before radio contact was lost.

The victims included one of the country’s best-known television personalities.

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Thousands gathered at state broadcaster TVN to remember daily morning talk show host Felipe Camiroaga, who was traveling to the island with a crew to report on reconstruction efforts after a massive earthquake and tsunami caused devastation last year.

Robinson Crusoe, believed to have been the setting for the famous novel by 18th century British author Daniel Defoe, is the main island of the Juan Fernandez archipelago, which lies in the Pacific some 700 kilometers (435 miles) west of the South American coastline.

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The Chilean navy is using sonar equipment to try to locate the fuselage of the aircraft, where officials believe may hold the remaining crash victims.