Santiago de Chile with the snowy mountains of the Andes in the background
Photo: Sebastian Beltran Gaete/ dpa
A blizzard snowed in hundreds of people in the mountains on the Chile-Argentina border.
On Sunday, around 200 people, mostly tourists and long-distance drivers, were stuck on a mountain pass at temperatures of minus 10 degrees, local authorities said.
According to this, 120 people had been rescued by the police and military early in the morning.
The storm started on Saturday after a sudden wind shift.
More than 300 vehicles were snowed in on a connecting road between Argentina and Chile in a foothill of the Andes at an altitude of 3000 meters.
"There were cars that couldn't continue their journey because of the fog and couldn't even open the doors to get out," Héctor Tello, a Las Heras municipality official, told C5N.
Border crossing closed
The Los Libertadores border crossing has been closed by the authorities.
“Temperatures are down to minus 10 degrees and more than a meter of snow has accumulated on the roads,” Tello continued.
Accordingly, the border police provide those affected with warm water and food.
According to officials, the rescue work could be completed by Monday.
However, the weather conditions are “still bad”.
Las Heras is located in the province of Mendoza, around 1200 kilometers west of Buenos Aires.
The cold wave currently prevailing there is rather unusual despite the winter.
kfr/AFP
