The hunt for "Dr. Death" Aribert Heim, the Nazi war criminal wanted for murdering hundreds of prisoners in concentration camps during World War II, has intensified after the Simon Wiesenthal's chief Nazi hunter received fresh leads during a visit to South America.

Efraim Zuroff, a Holocaust historian who heads the center's Jerusalem office, told media that he had received information that Heim was in the Patagonia region of southern Chile, where his daughter lives.

"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, according to the Reuters news agency.

Heim, who would be 94 if he's still alive, was an Austrian medical doctor in the SS. He is alleged to have murdered hundreds of concentration camp inmates with experiments that included injecting poison into their hearts. He tops the Wiesenthal Center's list of most wanted Nazi war criminals.

Heim decorated his office with human body parts during World War II, even using the skull of a man he decapitated as a paperweight.

Zuroff is currently in South America to promote "Operation Last Chance," the Wiesenthal Center's initiative to obtain information that could lead to the prosecution and punishment of the last surviving Nazi war criminals.

The group has put up a €315,000 ($495,000) reward for information leading to the arrest of Heim. Zuroff and his team will fly later on Wednesday to Puerto Montt, a town 657 miles (1,058 km) south of the capital Santiago. Heim's daughter lives in Puero Montt and Zuroff believes Heim may live close to her.

"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.