Nazi war criminal known as 'Dr Death' is alive and well in Chile, investigators say

Nazi hunters are hoping to flush out the most notorious member of the Third Reich still believed to be alive, known as "Dr Death", in southern Chile.

Aribert Heim, who passed his 94th birthday on June 28 if he is still alive, documented the hundreds of victims he himself murdered and tortured at the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria during World War Two.

He murdered his victims by injecting petrol or water into their hearts and used their body parts as decorations.

After the war, Heim was held for two-and-a-half years by the United States military but was released without being tried.

He disappeared in 1962, when he was tipped off that the indictment by German authorities was imminent, according to Zuroff.

The Nazi hunters believe he is hiding out in the Patagonia region of southern Chile, also home to his daughter.

'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 £250,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Heim, known to have adorned his office during the war with human body parts, even using the skull of a man he decapitated as a paperweight.

Zuroff and his team will land in Puerto Montt, a town 657 miles south of the capital Santiago where Heim's daughter lives.

They are hoping residents may come forward with new information.

The visit is part of what they call Operation Last Chance, which will include a newspaper advertising campaign in local newspapers in Chile and Argentina.

'We're hoping that our presence in the area will attract the necessary attention to receive the information that we're looking for,' Zuroff said.

Hundreds of Nazis wanted for war crimes escaped to Latin America after World War Two, mainly to Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Brazil.

Zuroff said most evidence suggests Heim is alive. His children have not taken possession of a bank account in his name in Berlin which has almost £1million, which would be theirs if they could present proof of his death.

They would also have access to £500,000 in stocks and bonds if Heim were proven dead.

Zuroff said Heim would be easier to catch if he tried to run.