Search continues for missing hiker in Cajón del Maipo

SANTIAGO. -  Two troops belonging to the Group of Special Police Operations (GOPE) resumed their search at 7:00 AM this morning in hopes of finding 23 year-old mountaineer Marco Antonio Vera Moraga, who has been missing since Saturday afternoon in the Baño Morales sector of the Cajón del Maipo.

Some 30 police officers, as well as several mountaineers began working together in the search as soon Vera, who is originally from Coihaique and belongs to the Mountaineering organization of the Universidad Católica, was reported missing.

The young man had been climbing the mountain along with two friends when an avalanche of snow suddenly began rushing down the mountainside, sweeping the man some 1000 meters downhill and leaving him buried under approximately two meters of snow, rock and tree branches.

After the tragedy, it took Vera´s friends 24 hours to make their way to the nearest patrol station to report what had happened.