French Mountain Warfare Training

From the BBC - Two African soldiers have died of hypothermia during a mountain warfare training exercise in the French Alps.
The men, from Togo and Niger, died after a snowstorm prevented them from reaching their barracks, so they dug into the snow, an official said.

Seven of the 90 other soldiers on the three-week exercise organised by the elite Saint-Cyr military academy are suffering from hypothermia.

The authorities say they have opened a judicial enquiry into the deaths.

Many soldiers from France's former colonies in Africa go to the Saint-Cyr academy for military training.

"Initially weather conditions were difficult but not abnormal. But they deteriorated and one of three groups taking part bivouacked in a makeshift shelter. When checks were made in the night, it was found that two foreign trainees from Africa had died," said defence ministry spokesman Colonel Michel Luc.

The survivors are being evacuated from the Ubaye valley, near the Italian border, where the two men died.

Totally inexcusable!