Chilean soldiers lost in snow
2005-05-20 22:56
Los Angeles, Chile - A search resumed amid bad weather early on Friday for 45 young Chilean soldiers missing for two days after being caught in a fierce snowstorm in the Andes as they returned from a military drill.
The army lowered the number of the missing to 45 on Friday, down from 65 on Thursday night after 30 were found in a small mountain shelter in the area about 500km south-east of Santiago.
It also said only four bodies have been recovered and identified. It had earlier said five soldiers had died in the storm, which local residents called the worse in a decade.
Snow and strong winds continued to hamper search and rescue efforts on Friday, but the weather was expected to improve later in the day and officials said they expected helicopters could operate normally soon.
Most of the soldiers were 18 or 19 years old and had started their year-long mandatory draft only the month before.
Some relatives of the missing accused the army of hiding information from them.
Regional army commander General Rodolfo Gonzalez denied the accusation. "We are not hiding anything, believe me. We feel as much pain as you feel," he told the relatives at a news conference on Friday. "The missing are our children, our soldiers, our officers."
Jose Contreras, whose son is among the missing, told Radio Cooperativa the army was only concerned about the fate of the officers, not the soldiers.
The government said an investigation will be conducted to find out if anyone should be held responsible to ordering the march down the mountain in spite of the forecast of a strong snowstorm.
The storm was so violent, that the top army commander, General Emilio Cheyre, called it "a snow tsumami". Survivors said they were blinded and disoriented by the snow.
- AP