Many People Snowed in Argentine-Chilean Andes

At a border post in the Andes mountains on the border between Argentina and Chile, at least 400 people have been detained by a snow storm.

Among the snowbound people were many truck drivers and tourists in addition to villagers, authorities in the two South American countries said.

Argentine emergency services managed to get the isolated people to safety on Sunday, but many vehicles have yet to be evacuated. The problems started on Saturday at an altitude of 3,200 meters at the Cristo Redentor border crossing, about 90 kilometres northeast of the Chilean capital Santiago. There was a traffic jam on the Argentine side of the border crossing and then a snow storm broke out.

Snow has also trapped people on the Chilean side, but the biggest problems there are in the mountains of the Araucanía region, about 560 kilometres south of Santiago.

In the region, border crossings to Argentina have been closed to traffic and work is underway to clear roads that have been made impassable by snow. About 2000 residents were cut off from the outside world.