Private funeral for Salvador Allende, slain in 1973

The funeral for Salvador Allende, the Chilean president who died in a bloody 1973 military coup, will be held in private out of respect for victims of the weekend's plane crash at Robinson Crusoe Island, the family said in a statement. Allende's remains were exhumed in May and examined in a bid to unravel mysteries surrounding his death during the coup. Experts concluded he committed suicide, and was not murdered as some had alleged. Allende, who was president from 1970 to 1973, was originally scheduled to be reburied September 4 in a public ceremony scheduled to coincide with the 41th anniversary of the elections that swept the socialist Allende to office. The funeral however was postponed following the September 2 plane crash that killed 21 people, including top Chilean media personalities. Allende's bones are being held at the Legal Medical Service, where the remains of several crash victims have been taken. Separately, President Sebastian Pinera announced that the Chilean air force has asked a special judge to look into the cause of the plane crash. The announcement comes amid a swirl of criticism over the military plane's flight plan and the lack of experience of the 26 year-old pilot. The CASA 212 turbo-prop plane went down during a failed attempt to land on Robinson Crusoe, the main island of the Juan Fernandez archipelago, which lies in the Pacific some 700 kilometers (435 miles) west of the South American coastline.