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Nazi doctor 'is alive in Chile' Most wanted Nazi sought in Chile
(31 minutes later)
Nazi-hunters say they have strong evidence that the most wanted member of Hitler's regime - known as Dr Death - is hiding in southern Chile. Israel's chief Nazi hunter has gone to Chile to step up the hunt for the most wanted Nazi fugitive, believed to be in the country or neighbouring Argentina.
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre believes Aribert Heim is in Patagonia, where his daughter is known to live. Efraim Zuroff says new information strongly suggests Aribert Heim - known as Dr Death - is hiding in Patagonia, where his daughter lives.
The centre has sent representatives to the region to pursue the search. Heim tortured and killed prisoners in Mauthausen concentration camp in WWII.
Heim is said to have documented the victims he tortured and killed at Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria during World War II. Heim fled Germany in 1962 before authorities were able to arrest him.
He is accused of killing Jews using exceptionally cruel methods. According to Holocaust survivors, he performed operations and amputations without anaesthetic to see how much pain his victims could endure. Chilean and Argentinean papers have published pictures of Heim in 1950, 1959 and how he might look now. These are also displayed on posters advertising the search.
"In the last few days we've received information from two different sources, both relating to Chile, which we think have very good potential," the director of Israel's Simon Wiesenthal Centre, Mr Zuroff, said.
"The reason we are going [to Patagonia]... is of course the fact that Heim's daughter lives in Puerto Montt, and we think there is a strong likelihood that he might be in that area or in the area between Puerto Montt and Bariloche [Argentina]."
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre, along with the German and Austrian governments, has offered $495,000 (315,000 euros; £250,000) for information leading to Heim's arrest.
Although he would now be 94, they believe Heim is still alive because his family has yet to claim around $1.6m sitting in a German bank account in his name, says the BBC's Gideon Long in Santiago.
In order to make the claim, his family would have to prove he is dead.
The search for Heim is part of Operation Last Chance, a final bid to bring Nazi war criminals to justice more than 60 years after the end of WWII.
'Body decorations'
Heim kept meticulous notes of his activities at Mauthausen.
According to Holocaust survivors, he performed operations and amputations without anaesthetic to see how much pain his victims could endure.
Injecting victims straight into the heart with petrol, water or poison were said to have been his favoured method at Mauthausen.Injecting victims straight into the heart with petrol, water or poison were said to have been his favoured method at Mauthausen.
"In the last few days we've received information from two different sources, both relating to Chile, which we think have very good potential," said Efraim Zuroff, director of the Israel office of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre.
The group has put up a 315,000 euros ($495,000; £250,000) reward for information leading to the arrest of Heim.
"His crimes are fully documented by himself, because he kept a log of the operations that he carried out," Mr Zuroff said."His crimes are fully documented by himself, because he kept a log of the operations that he carried out," Mr Zuroff said.
"He tortured many inmates before he killed them at Mauthausen, and he used body parts of the people he killed as decorations.""He tortured many inmates before he killed them at Mauthausen, and he used body parts of the people he killed as decorations."
After the war, Heim was detained by US forces but was not charged. After the war, Heim was detained by US forces, but later disappeared.
He practised medicine in the German town of Baden-Baden until 1962, when he fled the country after being tipped off that the authorities were about to prosecute him.He practised medicine in the German town of Baden-Baden until 1962, when he fled the country after being tipped off that the authorities were about to prosecute him.
If he is still alive, Heim will be 94 years old.