"[17] Parrado saw two smaller peaks on the western horizon that were not covered in snow. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Colonel Julio Csar Ferradas was an experienced Air Force pilot who had a total of 5,117 flying hours. The courage of this one boy prevented a flood of total despair. In the plane there are still 14 injured people. Pic: Paramount / Touchstone Pictures, The group survived for two and a half months in the Andes, The players were part of the Old Christians rugby team, A 2002 image of Roberto Canessa (R) with Sergio Catalan - who found the men. "[29] The next morning, the three men could see that the hike was going to take much longer than they had originally planned. "With that, our suffering ended," Canessa said. If I die please use my body so at least one of us can get out of here and tell our families how much we love them.". You probably know the story of the group of Uruguayan rugby players, family members, and fans whose chartered plane crashed into an unnamed 15,000-foot peak on October 13, 1972. Alive! Three crew members and nine passengers died immediately; several more died soon afterward due to the frigid temperatures and the severity of their injuries. Unknown to any of the team members, the aircraft's electrical system used 115 volts AC, while the battery they had located produced 24 volts DC,[4] making the plan futile from the beginning. [15][16], At least four died from the impact of the fuselage hitting the snow bank, which ripped the remaining seats from their anchors and hurled them to the front of the plane: team physician Dr. Francisco Nicola and his wife Esther Nicola; Eugenia Parrado and Fernando Vazquez (medical student). People who are lost in alcohol and drugs - the same. [44][45] Family members of victims of the flight founded Fundacin Viven in 2006 to preserve the legacy of the flight, memory of the victims, and support organ donation. After just a few days, we were feeling the sensation of our own bodies consuming themselves just to remain alive. Im condemned to tell this story for evermore, just like the Beatles always having to sing Yesterday. But this story has endured, and at the time, in the early 70s, became controversial, because of what happened next. But for 16 survivors, including 20 year-old Nando Parrado, what they experienced was worse than death. Eventually spotted by a peasant farmer in the Chilean foothills they reached help and returned via helicopter to rescue the rest of those waiting to die in the mountains. Pilot Ferradas had flown across the Andes 29 times previously. It was later made into a Hollywood movie in 1993. They built a fire and stayed up late reading comic books. Por favor, no podemos ni caminar. After numerous days spent searching for survivors, the rescue team was forced to end the search. By the time he was rescued, there were a mere 37 kilograms on his 5.9-foot frame. Even just moments after the crash, they had to make difficult decisions. Others justified it according to a Bible verse found in John 15:13: 'No man hath greater love than this: that he lay down his life for his friends. On the return trip, they were struck by a blizzard. During the following 72 days, the survivors suffered extreme hardships, including exposure, starvation, and an avalanche, which led to the deaths of thirteen more passengers. GARCIA-NAVARRO: Strauch finally decided to tell his story publicly after a mountaineer discovered his jacket and wallet at the crash site years later and returned it to him. England take on Uruguay in their final Rugby World Cup match this evening. GARCIA-NAVARRO: Eduardo, the group of survivors quickly formed a community, sharing tasks, rotating sleeping positions so everyone would get a chance at a more comfortable spot in the wrecked plane. The back half sheared off at cruising speed sending those at the rear of the plane tumbling to their deaths, and the front portion of the fuselage, minus any wings, shooting forwards like a torpedo over the ridge. "At about this time we were falling in the Andes. After more than two unthinkably. Only much later did Canessa learn that the road he saw to the east would have gotten them to rescue sooner and easier.[29][30]. During part of the climb, they sank up to their hips in the snow, which had been softened by the summer sun. They also built a cross in the snow using luggage, but it was unseen by the search and rescue aircraft. But after entering severe turbulence, the pilot made a mistake and began descending while they were still over the mountains. 'Why the hell is that good news?' That must have been devastating. Seventeen. [17][2], Even with this strict rationing, their food stock dwindled quickly. She had strong religious convictions, and only reluctantly agreed to partake of the flesh after she was told to view it as "like Holy Communion". Thinking of the suffering that must have caused our families at home made us even more determined to survive, said Sabella. And important. Stranded: I've Come from a Plane that Crashed in the Mountains, I Am Alive: Surviving the Andes Plane Crash, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alive:_The_Story_of_the_Andes_Survivors&oldid=1118386317, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 26 October 2022, at 18:52. Search efforts were cancelled after eight days. On 26 December, two pictures taken by members of Cuerpo de Socorro Andino (Andean Relief Corps) of a half-eaten human leg were printed on the front page of two Chilean newspapers, El Mercurio and La Tercera de la Hora,[2] who reported that all survivors resorted to cannibalism. Parrado ate a single chocolate-covered peanut over three days. [4], The Chilean Air Force provided three Bell UH-1 helicopters to assist with the rescue. The book inspired the song "The Plot Sickens" on the album Every Trick in the Book by the American metalcore band Ice Nine Kills. NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro speaks with him about his story of hope in his book, Out of the Silence: After. The pilot was able to bring the aircraft nose over the ridge, but at 3:34p.m., the lower part of the tail-cone may have clipped the ridge at 4,200 metres (13,800ft). [15], They continued east the next morning. Parrado replied:[17][26], Vengo de un avin que cay en las montaas. [40] The father of one victim had received word from a survivor that his son wished to be buried at home. They trekked for over ten days, traveling 61 km (38 miles). We have just some chocolates and biscuits for 29 people, so we start getting very weak immediately. Cataln threw bread to the men across the river. Survivors were forced to eat the bodies of their dead friends, a. Parrado was determined to hike out or die trying. We ripped open seat cushions hoping to find straw, but found only inedible upholstery foam Again and again, I came to the same conclusion: unless we wanted to eat the clothes we were wearing, there was nothing here but aluminum, plastic, ice, and rock. [17] On 21 October, after searching a total of 142 hours and 30 minutes, the searchers concluded that there was no hope and terminated the search. He was in the ninth row of seats. [43], In 1973, mothers of 11 young people who died in the plane crash founded the Our Children Library in Uruguay to promote reading and teaching. Strauch was one of 45 people on a charter flight ferrying an amateur rugby team from Uruguay to Chile on . On Friday, the 13th of October, 1972, a charter plane carrying 45 passengers, including a college rugby team, vanished over the desolate, snow-covered Andes Mountains. His mother had taught him to sew when he was a boy, and with the needles and thread from the sewing kit found in his mother's cosmetic case, he began to work to speed the progress, Carlitos taught others to sew, and we all took our turns Coche [Inciarte], Gustavo [Zerbino], and Fito [Strauch] turned out to be our best and fastest tailors. For a long time, we agonized. A Uruguayan rugby team crashes in the Andes Mountains and has to survive the extremely cold temperatures and rough climate. Both of Arturo Nogueira's legs were broken in several places. [15], On 15 November, Arturo Nogueira died, and three days later, Rafael Echavarren died, both from gangrene due to their infected wounds. The bodies of our friends and team-mates, preserved outside in the snow and ice, contained vital, life-giving protein that could help us survive. ", Uruguayan rugby team, who were forced to eat human flesh to stay alive after plane went down, play match postponed in 1972, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, Former members of the Old Christians rugby team hold a minute's silence after unveiling a plaque in memory of those who died. And they continue living. A new softcover edition, with a revised introduction and additional interviews with Piers Paul Read, Coche Inciarte, and Alvaro Mangino, was released by HarperCollins in 2005. When they rested that evening they were very tired, and Canessa seemed unable to proceed further. Cundo nos van a buscar arriba? Rumors circulated in Montevideo immediately after the rescue that the survivors had killed some of the others for food. With no choice, the survivors ate the bodies of their dead friends.[15][17]. Fairly early on, you say that hearing your cousin Adolfo say out loud what many were thinking - that you were going to have to eat the bodies - gave you a kind of relief. Estamos dbiles. [36], The survivors held a press conference on 28 December at Stella Maris College in Montevideo, where they recounted the events of the past 72 days. Parrado gave a similar shoe to his friends at the crash site before he left for the cordillera and guided rescuers back. The group survived for two and a half months in the Andes In bad. "If I had been told: 'I'm going to leave you in a mountain 4,000m high, 20C below zero (-4F) in shirtsleeves,' I would have said: I last 10 minutes.' Dnde estamos?English: I come from a plane that fell in the mountains. They stop overnight on the mountain at El Barroso camp. [27][28] seeking help. On the afternoon of October 13, 1972, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 begins its descent toward Santiago, Chile, too early and crashes high in the Andes Mountains. Many of the passengers had compound fractures or had been impaled by pieces . [29] They thought they would reach the peak in one day. Among those survivors was a young architect named Eduardo Strauch, who held off writing about the tragedy until now. Instead, it was customary for this type of aircraft to fly a longer 600-kilometre (370mi), 90-minute U-shaped route[2] from Mendoza south to Malarge using the A7 airway (known today as UW44). [26], It was now apparent that the only way out was to climb over the mountains to the west. [4], Thirty-three remained alive, although many were seriously or critically injured, with wounds including broken legs which had resulted from the aircraft's seats collapsing forward against the luggage partition and the pilot's cabin. Crashed at 3:34p.m. By chance, it hit the downward slope on the other side at the exact angle that allowed it to become a tube-like sledge, hurtling down into a bowl before hitting a snowdrift and coming to rest. Once he held those items in his hands, he felt himself transported back to the mountains. Alongside Canessa he defied death and impossible odds, trekking and climbing "mountains higher than any in Europe", with little strength and no equipment for 10 days and 80 miles. 'Because it means,' [Nicolich] said, 'that we're going to get out of here on our own.' He was accompanied by co-pilot Lieutenant-Colonel Dante Hctor Lagurara. And you didn't flinch from describing this in the book. Harley lay down to die, but Parrado would not let him stop and took him back to the fuselage. He mistakenly believed the aircraft had reached Curic, where the flight would turn to descend into Pudahuel Airport. It was Friday, October 13, 1972, and the Uruguayan Air Force Fairchild F-227 had crashed into a glacial valley high in the Andes. "I came back to life after having died," said Parrado, whose mother and sister died in the Andes. They had no food, no water, no clothes bar those scattered about the wrecked fuselage, and even less hope. The Chilean military photographed the bodies and mapped the area. GARCIA-NAVARRO: Eduardo Strauch's book, written with Uruguayan author Mireya Soriano, is called "Out Of The Silence.". Condemned to die without any hope we transported the rugby feeling to the cold fuselage at 12,000ft.". On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Transfer Centre LIVE! They dug a grave about .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}400 to 800m (14 to 12mi) from the aircraft fuselage at a site they thought was safe from avalanches. They couldn't help everyone. [20], The group survived by collectively deciding to eat flesh from the bodies of their dead comrades. They became sicker from eating these. [2] Twelve men and a Chilean priest were transported to the crash site on 18 January 1973. During the days following the crash, they divided this into small amounts to make their meager supply last as long as possible. Or was this the only sane thing to do? Parrado now sees those who died and gave up their bodies for food as the very first "consent donors", like modern organ donors enabling others to live. As some of the people die, the survivors are forced to make a terrible decision between starvation and cannibalism. One of the propellers sliced through the fuselage as the wing it was attached to was severed. 13 bodies were untouched, while another 15 were mostly skeletal. On average,. He decided his story was so important that he had to share it beyond just his family and friends. Contact would have killed them all, but by a miracle they missed the obstacles and more than half of those onboard "barely had a scratch on them". We knew the answer, but it was too terrible to contemplate. To try to keep out some of the cold, they used luggage, seats, and snow to close off the open end of the fuselage. The book was published two years after the survivors of the crash were rescued. Today, the 16 survivors are a close-knit group who also meet each year on December 22, the day the rescue began, for a barbecue of beef steaks and pork sausages. Survivor Roberto Canessa described the decision to eat the pilots and their dead friends and family members: Our common goal was to survive but what we lacked was food. The death of Perez, the team captain and leader of the survivors, along with the loss of Liliana Methol, who had nursed the survivors "like a mother and a saint", were extremely discouraging to those remaining alive.[16][22]. Had we turned into brute savages? [2] Close to the grave, they built a simple stone altar and staked an orange iron cross on it. Uruguayan Air Force flight 571 was flying members of a college rugby team and their relatives from Uruguay's capital Montevideo to Santiago, Chile, for a rugby game. And it was because it was in order to live and preserve life, which is exactly what I would have liked for myself if it had been my body that lay on the floor," he said. When Canessa reached the top and saw nothing but snow-capped mountains for kilometres around them, his first thought was, "We're dead. They flew in heavy cloud cover under instrument conditions to Los Maitenes de Curic where the army interviewed Parrado and Canessa. Copyright 2019 NPR. The second flight of helicopters arrived the following morning at daybreak. [4], The survivors slept a final night in the fuselage with the search and rescue party. [26] Alfredo Delgado spoke for the survivors. He believes that rugby saved their lives. 1972. The front portion of the fuselage flew straight through the air before sliding down the steep glacier at 350km/h (220mph) like a high-speed toboggan and descended about 725 metres (2,379ft). [1], The book was a critical success. [35] On 23 December, news reports of cannibalism were published worldwide, except in Uruguay. Then we realized that by folding the quilt in half and stitching the seams together, we could create an insulated sleeping bag large enough for all three expeditionaries to sleep in. [15], Before the avalanche, a few of the survivors became insistent that their only way of survival would be to climb over the mountains and search for help. [17] Since the plane crash, Canessa had lost almost half of his body weight, about 44 kilograms (97lb). According to Read, some rationalized the act of cannibalism as equivalent to the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ under the appearances of bread and wine. The flight time from the pass to Curic is normally 11 minutes, but only three minutes later the pilot told Santiago that they were passing Curic and turning north. Can you talk a little bit about that? [21], All of the passengers were Roman Catholic. Vizintn and Parrado rejoined Canessa where they had slept the night before. The film explores the true story of the Uruguayan rugby team whose plane crashed in the Andes in 1972. The plane was so far off course that the searchers were looking in the wrong place. One of the team members, Roy Harley, was an amateur electronics enthusiast, and they recruited his help in the endeavour. The survivors found a small transistor radio jammed between seats on the aircraft, and Roy Harley improvised a very long antenna using electrical cable from the plane. They placed a plaque on the pile of rocks inscribed:[39], EL MUNDO A SUS HERMANOS URUGUAYOSCERCA, OH DIOS DE TI The Uruguayan air force plane that carried the team crashed in a mountain pass in October 1972 en route from Montevideo to Santiago. Vizintn and Parrado reached the base of a near-vertical wall more than one hundred meters (300 feet) tall encased in snow and ice. Carlitos [Pez] took on the challenge. [15], The authorities and the victims' families decided to bury the remains near the site of the crash in a common grave. First, they were able to reach the narrow valley that Parrado had seen on the top of the mountain, where they found the source of Ro San Jos, leading to Ro Portillo which meets Ro Azufre at Maitenes. To live at 4,000m without any food," said another survivor, Eduardo Strauch, 65. Not immediately rescued, the survivors turned to cannibalism to survive, and were saved after 72 days. The white plane was invisible in the snowy blanket of the mountain. I went out in the snow and prayed to God for guidance. GARCIA-NAVARRO: And so two members of the team, dressed in only street clothes, miraculously were able to make it over the mountains and find help. The wreck was located at an elevation of 3,570 metres (11,710ft) in the remote Andes of far western Argentina, just east of the border with Chile. Four members of the search and rescue team volunteered to stay with the seven survivors remaining on the mountain. [38] The news of their survival and the actions required to live drew world-wide attention and grew into a media circus. "It's something that very few people experience." Nando Parrado described in his book, Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home, how they came up with the idea of making a sleeping bag: The second challenge would be to protect ourselves from exposure, especially after sundown. [4], On the afternoon of 22 December 1972, the two helicopters carrying search and rescue personnel reached the survivors. We are weak. Nando Parrado found a metal pole from the luggage racks and they were able to get one of the windows from the pilot's cabin open enough to poke a hole through the snow, providing ventilation. "[11], Roberto Canessa later said that he thought the pilot turned north too soon, and began the descent to Santiago while the aircraft was still high in the Andes. [19], The survivors had very little food: eight chocolate bars, a tin of mussels, three small jars of jam, a tin of almonds, a few dates, candies, dried plums, and several bottles of wine. This has to go down as one of the greatest tragedies in aviation history, not for the scale of death, but for the hardships some of the survivors came to endure. They were abandoned, and in their minds condemned to die. We were absolutely angry. Eating human flesh doesnt taste like anything, really, said fellow survivor Carlitos Paez, the son of an Uruguayan artist. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. And all that with only human flesh to sustain them. The Ur. At sunset, while sipping cognac that they had found in the tail section, Parrado said, "Roberto, can you imagine how beautiful this would be if we were not dead men? On October 13, 1972, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 left the city of Mendoza, Argentina carrying the Old Christians Rugby Club of Montevideo, Uruguay to a scheduled game in Santiago, Chile. "I would ask myself: is it worth doing this? Unable to obtain official permission to retrieve his son's body, Ricardo Echavarren mounted an expedition on his own with hired guides. Numa Turcatti and Antonio Vizintin were chosen to accompany Canessa and Parrado; however, Turcatti's leg was stepped on and the bruise had become septic, so he was unable to join the expedition. And that first night was really impossible to describe. Their story became the basis of a best-selling book and Hollywood film. Then, "he began to climb, until the plane was nearly vertical and it began to stall and shake. : the story of the Andes survivors, Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, I Am Alive: Surviving the Andes Plane Crash, Robindronath Ekhane Kawkhono Khete Aashenni, 1947 BSAA Avro Lancastrian Star Dust accident, Emergency position-indicating radiobeacon station, "A 40 aos del Milagro de los Andes (Accidente del FAU-571)", "The gravel road to Planchn Pass in the Andes", "When dead reckoning became deadly: remembering the Andes air disaster | Flight Safety Australia", "One Airline Career: I'm Alive: by AMS Pictures", "40 aos de la tragedia de los andes Militares en Taringa +11.200 Taringa", "Nando Parrado on his survival of the 1972 Andes air crash", "After the Plane Crash and the Cannibalism a Life of Hope", "ASN Aircraft accident Fairchild FH-227D T-571 El Tiburcio", "Uruguayan Air Force flight 571 | Crash, Rescue, & Facts", "True Survival Stories: Miracle In The Andes Survival Life", "Plane crash survivor describes the moment he resorted to cannibalism", "An iron cross in the mountains: The lonely site of the 1972 Andes flight disaster", "I Am Alive: The Crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571", "Survivor of 1972 Andes plane crash trusts Dallas firm to tell his tale in film | Cheryl Hall Columns Business News for Dallas, Texas The Dallas Morning News", "Survivor of 1972 Andes plane crash who resorted to cannibalism reveals struggle in new book, 'I Had to Survive' NY Daily News", "Alive: Rugby Team's Fabled Survival In Andes", "Sitio Oficial del accidente de los Andes Historia", "A Plane Carrying 45 People Crashed In The Andes 16 Of Them Survived By Eating The Others", "Alive: The Andes Accident 1972 | Official Site |", "Javier Methol: Businessman who survived for 72 days in the Andes after his plane crashed in 1972", "The Ghost of Uruguayan Air Force 571 Airpressman", "Fundadoras de la Biblioteca Nuestros hijos", "Tragedia de los Andes: sus protagonistas celebran la vida 40 aos despus", "Page in homage to victims by the survivors of the Andes", "*** Bruni Aventura *** San Rafael Mendoza Argentina", "December 23: On This Day in World History briefly", "Sergio Cataln who helped save Uruguayans in Andes in 1972 Passes Away", "Survivor of 1972 Andes Plane Crash Recalls How Victims Were Forced to Eat Friends' Bodies in New Book I Had to Survive", "Story Of The 1972 Andes Plane Crash In 'Out Of The Silence', "The director of 'Stranded' has lived with this story", "Stranded: The Andes Plane Crash Survivors", "2016 What Next Festival of Music brings opera back to Hamilton Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra", "The stories behind Ice Nine Kills' Every Trick In The Book album", Alive: Sixteen Men, Seventy-two Days, and Insurmountable Odds The Classic Adventure of Survival in the Andes, "Back to the Andes Expedition 2006 with one of the survivors", Expedition with live streaming of biometrics and geo-location, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Uruguayan_Air_Force_Flight_571&oldid=1142432525, Parrado, Canessa and Vizintin set off to find help, Parrado and Canessa encounter Sergio Cataln, Esther Horta Prez de Nicola (wife of team physician), Eugenia Dolgay Diedug de Parrado (Fernando Parrado's mother), Lt. Col. Dante Hctor Lagurara (co-pilot), Graziela Augusto Gumila de Mariani (wedding guest), Susana Parrado (Fernando Parrado's sister), Liliana Navarro Petraglia de Methol (wife of Javier Methol), Gustavo "Coco" Nicolich* (veterinary student), Rafael Echavarren (dairy farming student), The incident is mentioned in the 1978 survival film, The incident is mentioned in a 2011 horror film, "The Plot Sickens", by the American metalcore band, The song "Snowcapped Andes Crash" appears on, This page was last edited on 2 March 2023, at 10:00. Javier Methol and his wife Liliana, the only surviving female passenger, were the last survivors to eat human flesh. They followed the river and reached the snowline. Instead of climbing the ridge to the west which was somewhat lower than the peak, they climbed straight up the steep mountain. The plane, a twin-engine turboprop, was only four years old. [33] A flood of international reporters began walking several kilometers along the route from Puente Negro to Termas del Flaco. All rights reserved. He refused to give up hope. One helicopter remained behind in reserve. Those left knew that they would die if they did not find help. harrowing tale of survivors of an airplane crash. [17][26], Gradually, there appeared more and more signs of human presence; first some evidence of camping, and finally on the ninth day, some cows. A half century after their plane crashed into the Andes, the survivors who resorted to cannibalism to stay alive came together this week in Uruguay to remember their grisly ordeal. They dried the meat in the sun, which made it more palatable. Eduardo Strauch survived the 1972 Andes plane crash of the Uruguayan rugby team. News. I was very young. [47], In March 2006, the families of those aboard the flight had a black obelisk monument built at the crash site memorializing those who lived and died.[48]. Twenty-nine guys, we donated our bodies, hand in hand we made a pact. [English: The world to its Uruguayan brothersClose, oh God, to you], They doused the remains of the fuselage in gasoline and set it alight.
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