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Five Chilean soldiers froze to death and 65 were missing after a fierce snowstorm pounded the Andes mountains, and more bad weather Thursday hampered rescue efforts, the army’s top commander said.
Angry relatives complained that the soldiers, mostly young draftees, had been sent into difficult circumstances without adequate training.
Thirty soldiers were found alive Thursday, reducing the number missing to 65, an army spokesman said.
The entire group was returning from a mountain drill Wednesday about 300 miles southeast of Santiago when the storm hit, Gen. Emilio Cheyre said. Visibility was reduced to near zero as several feet of snow accumulated.
