Chilean rescue teams searched Friday for about 65 soldiers who had gone missing two days earlier in a snowstorm in the Andes. The commander of the Chilean Army, General Juan Emilio Cheyre, said that thanks to their training and equipment, the missing men were capable of surviving, dpa reported However, the fear of the soldiers' relatives grew hour by hour, especially after the bodies of five of their colleagues who had frozen to death were found Thursday. Media reports said some of the troops had not been outfitted with warm clothing, and a warning of bad weather was not heeded when a total of 433 soldiers set out Wednesday on a 25-kilometre march in mountainous terrain near the Antuco volcano, about 500 kilometres south of Santiago. Cheyre described the storm that overtook them as a "snow tsunami". Such conditions are also called the "white wind" for their high winds and heavy snowfall. President Ricardo Lagos said he was very concerned about the missing soldiers and expressed his sympathies to their families. The other soldiers in the unit were rescued. Some had suffered frostbite to their hands, but all were in good health, Cheyre said. ---SP 2327 Local Time 2027 GMT
