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CHILETragedy strikes in the Andes President Ricardo Lagos announced three days of national mourning May 20 after a group of soldiers returning from a training exercise died May 18 when they were caught in a sudden snowstorm in the high Andes, some 500 km south of the capital, Santiago. "I have repeated that I am convinced that they are all dead," army chief Gen. Emilio Cheyre said May 22, when 26 had been confirmed dead and 19 were still missing. "But we will not give up until we have recovered all of our men." The soldiers were mainly young conscripts who had just begun a year's mandatory service. Cheyre acknowledged that the exercise "never should have taken place" because of the bad weather and said that the regimental commander and two officers in charge of the soldiers were to be sacked. It is the worst peacetime military disaster in Chile since 1927 when 12 cadets died and scores were injured in a train crash in the Andes.
The Japan Times Weekly: May 28, 2005 |
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