5 Chilean Soldiers dead 95 missing

[Marty]

Thu May 19, 9:40 AM ET

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) - Five Chilean soldiers died and 95 others were missing after a snow storm trapped an army battalion in the Andes mountains, an army commander said Thursday.

The battalion was returning from a mountain drill Wednesday when the storm hit, reducing visibility to near zero with driving snow, Gen. Emilio Cheyre said.

By early Thursday, 333 members of the 433-soldier battalion were safe at military installations in the area, some 500 kilometres south of Santiago, Cheyre told Radio Cooperativa.

The five soldiers who died were victims of hypothermia, the army said.

Military mountain patrols with air support had been sent to assist the search, which has been hampered by persistent wind and snow as well as a lack of adequate communications.

"But the fact that they are all members of the same company makes me have hopes that they all remain reunited, together," Cheyre said. "According to their training, they should have stopped when the storm hit and take safety measures."

 

[Marty]

Dont know where the Yahoo personals came from .....sorry

 

[Pieman]

Looks like the bodycount is now at 14 for this story. I hope they find the rest of them huddled up somewhere.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2005/05/21/chile-soldiers050521.html

LOS ANGELES, CHILE - A search resumed Saturday for more than 40 young Chilean soldiers who became trapped in a blizzard during a march in the Andes Mountains.

Chile President Ricardo Lagos said 14 bodies have been recovered. He declared a three-day period of mourning for the soldiers, many of them teens, caught in the worst storm to hit the regions in decades.

 
A distraught relative of one of the missing soldiers reacts at the army barracks in Los Angeles, Chile. (AP photo)  
The army's top commander, Gen. Emilio Cheyre, said 41 soldiers â “ 40 draftees and an officer â “ probably died in what he called a "snow tsunami."

"The probabilities are low, very low" that the men survived, he said.

There were 485 soldiers taking part in drills on the slopes of the Antuco volcano in the Los Barros range when the blizzard struck Wednesday.

Many who survived said they did so by dropping their heavy packs as they struggled through an area that was under two metres of snow.

Gen. Rodolfo Gonzalez admitted that "mistakes may have been made" in dispatching such a high number of troops, some with just a few weeks' training, into the area.

 

[Samy]

Thu May 19, 9:40 AM ETDid the find the bodies of the 5 soldiers? I'm just wondering I'm of Spanish ancestors and I have alot of Chilean friends so i was just wondering.

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) - Five Chilean soldiers died and 95 others were missing after a snow storm trapped an army battalion in the Andes mountains, an army commander said Thursday.

The battalion was returning from a mountain drill Wednesday when the storm hit, reducing visibility to near zero with driving snow, Gen. Emilio Cheyre said.

By early Thursday, 333 members of the 433-soldier battalion were safe at military installations in the area, some 500 kilometres south of Santiago, Cheyre told Radio Cooperativa.

The five soldiers who died were victims of hypothermia, the army said.

Military mountain patrols with air support had been sent to assist the search, which has been hampered by persistent wind and snow as well as a lack of adequate communications.

"But the fact that they are all members of the same company makes me have hopes that they all remain reunited, together," Cheyre said. "According to their training, they should have stopped when the storm hit and take safety measures."