Five Chilean soldiers froze to death and 65 were missing after a fierce snowstorm in the Andes mountains.
An army company was returning from a mountain drill on Wednesday in the Los Barros region, about 300 miles southeast of Santiago, when the storm hit. Visibility was reduced to near zero as several feet of snow accumulated.
Thirty soldiers were located alive yesterday, reducing the number missing to 65, according to army spokesman.
The army sent military mountain patrols with air support to search for the missing soldiers, but planes and helicopters were grounded yesterday due to bad weather. With snow blocking most roads in the area, army trucks and ambulances were waiting for workers using heavy machinery to clear the main route.
Angry relatives complained that the soldiers, mostly young draftees, had been sent into difficult circumstances without adequate training.
Regional army commander Gen. Rodolfo Gonzalez told the relatives he considered the soldiers "isolated, not lost". But he said it may have been a mistake not to anticipate the bad weather.
The missing soldiers were about five miles from an army refuge when the storm hit, and contact with them was lost.
AP