Freezing water, overloaded backpack, punishment… we know more about the death of two young soldiers during an exercise Spain

The tragedy occurred during an exercise in December 2023. Marc Rafanell López on Unsplash – Illustration

The tragedy occurred in December. This Thursday, April 11, we learned that the officer who supervised the maneuver was relieved of his duties.

The training had turned into a drama. A Spanish army officer who led an exercise during which two young soldiers drowned at the end of December 2023 in the south of the country has been relieved of his duties, according to an announcement from the Ministry of Defense consulted on Thursday by the AFP.

"Captain Ignacio Zuñiga Morillas […] is relieved of his current duties […], pending his new assignment", can we read in the official bulletin of the ministry published Thursday.

Two young soldiers under his command died from drowning on December 21, during an exercise on the Cerro Muriano base, near Cordoba. The army had initially announced their deaths "during maneuvers" without giving details of the circumstances but the press had quickly echoes an exercise gone wrong.

The captain, as well as a lieutenant and a sergeant who led the exercise with him, were indicted in mid-January by the military justice system.

Luis Romero, the lawyer for the family of Carlos Léon Rico, one of the two drowned soldiers, declared himself "satisfied" of the decision to relieve this captain of these functions. "But we wonder what action will be taken against lieutenant", he told AFP. Since the beginning of the affair, the family of Carlos Léon Rico has demanded that all rank and file officers be dismissed from their positions.

They were 24 and 34 years old

The two soldiers, aged 24 and 34, died while crossing a lake at freezing temperatures, loaded with their equipment, during an exercise in which they took part several dozen soldiers, according to Me Luis Romero. Carlos Léon Rico also carried 3.5 kilos of extra weight in his backpack, imposed by his superiors as a punishment, for a total of 12 kilos to bear.

The exercise did not provide for a lifeline as should be the case, nor for rescue rafts, but a simple loose rope to guide the soldiers, again according to the lawyer. At the beginning of January, Defense Minister Margarita Robles assured that the army would "collaborate without any reservation" with the’ investigation. "If there were mistakes, it must be said", she insisted.