A SURVIVOR of the Chile snowstorm which killed Cheryl Tweedy’s British ex-aide and four others has revealed one hiker was alive when rescuers first reached her.
Christian Aldridge was a pal of Victoria Bond, 40, who died in Monday’s 120mph whiteout in Patagonia – after mountain staff allegedly reassured them all was fine.
Victoria Bond, left, who died in the disaster, and her friend Christian Aldridge
Five bodies were recovered on Tuesday after the powerful snowstorm bulldozed the Torres del Paine National Park.
Christian, 41, told Sky News’s UK Tonight with Sarah-Jane Mee that he is “devastated” by the loss of his friend.
He revealed that locals volunteers used a homemade stretcher for the grim task of retrieving the bodies the next day.
But one of them still showed signs of life.
Christian said: “They recovered one of [the hikers] and she was still alive at the time and brought her down on a homemade stretcher that the rest of us in the camp made from sleeping mats, polystyrene and walking poles.”
There were medics among the volunteers and they immediately tried to help the dying the hiker, but she went into hypothermic cardiac arrest.
Reflecting on the aftermath of the tragedy, Christian said: “We’re relieved to be alive, of course, but devastated because we’ve lost one of our best friends and one of the most amazing people I’ve met.
“And we’re all carrying around with us a huge amount of grief, shock and guilt.
“We keep replaying everything that happened that day and asking, what could we have done differently? And it’s overwhelming and it still doesn’t feel real.”
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