[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. He still remembers the impact, before blacking out and only regaining consciousness four days later. They called on the Andes Rescue Group of Chile (CSA). We have been walking for 10 days. The remaining portion of the fuselage slid down a glacier at an estimated 350km/h (220mph) and descended about 725 metres (2,379ft) before crashing into ice and snow. They also realized that unless they found a way to survive the freezing temperature of the nights, a trek was impossible. From there, travelers ride on horseback, though some choose to walk. Among those who Parrado helped rescue was Gustavo Zerbino, 72 days trapped on the mountain, and who 43 years later is now watching his nephew Jorge turn out for Uruguay at this World Cup. Parrado was determined to hike out or die trying. But we got used to it. In a corner, survivors wept when officials unveiled a commemorative frame with pictures of those who died. Members of the "Old Christians" rugby team stand near the fuselage of their Uruguayan Air Force F-227 plane two months after it crashed while ferrying them to a match in Chile. 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. Because of the co-pilot's dying statement that the aircraft had passed Curic, the group believed the Chilean countryside was just a few kilometres away to the west. And there were already signs that the flight wouldn't be easy. 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. ', Photo by Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images, Photo by EITAN ABRAMOVICH/AFP via Getty Images. I went out in the snow and prayed to God for guidance. One of the propellers sliced through the fuselage as the wing it was attached to was severed. [2], Upon being rescued, the survivors initially explained that they had eaten some cheese and other food they had carried with them, and then local plants and herbs. They had no technical gear, no map or compass, and no climbing experience. [20], The group survived by collectively deciding to eat flesh from the bodies of their dead comrades. [2], The aircraft departed Carrasco International Airport on 12 October 1972, but a storm front over the Andes forced them to stop overnight in Mendoza, Argentina. Members of a college rugby team and their relatives on Uruguayan Air Force flight 571 were travelling from Uruguay's capital Montevideo to Santiago, Chile, for a rugby game. The group, all of whom are still alive, get together on the Oct. 13 anniversary of the crash for a mass to remember the 29 friends and crew members who perished in the crash at an altitude of more than 13,000 feet, according to the outlet. The ight carried forty-ve passengers, including f-teen members of the Old Christians Rugby team. When are you going to come to fetch us? Rugby Union Walter Clemons declared that it "will become a classic in the literature of survival."[2]. Two of the rugby player on board, Gustavo Zerbino and Roberto Canessa, were medical students in Uruguay. "The only reason why we're here alive today is because we had the goal of returning home (Our loved ones) gave us life. [17][26], They relayed news of the survivors to the Army command in San Fernando, Chile, who contacted the Army in Santiago. [24][25] With considerable difficulty, on the morning of 31 October, they dug a tunnel from the cockpit to the surface, only to encounter a furious blizzard that left them no choice but to stay inside the fuselage. [38] The news of their survival and the actions required to live drew world-wide attention and grew into a media circus. [10] The aircraft's VOR/DME instrument displayed to the pilot a digital reading of the distance to the next radio beacon in Curic. Now let's go die together. Several survivors were determined to join the expedition team, including Roberto Canessa, one of the two medical students, but others were less willing or unsure of their ability to withstand such a physically exhausting ordeal. Parrado later said, "It was soft and greasy, streaked with blood and bits of wet gristle. With no choice, the survivors ate the bodies of their dead friends.[15][17]. Carlos Pez, 58, waved a small red shoe at a helicopter carrying Parrado, as he did when the Chilean air force rescued him and the others. The impact crushed the cockpit with the two pilots inside, killing Ferradas immediately. 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. 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.
He mistakenly believed the aircraft had reached Curic, where the flight would turn to descend into Pudahuel Airport. Rumors circulated in Montevideo immediately after the rescue that the survivors had killed some of the others for food. Canessa said it was the worst night of his life. [16], Canessa and Gustavo Zerbino, both medical students, acted quickly to assess the severity of people's wounds and treat those they could help most. Nando Parrado recalled hitting a downdraft, causing the plane to drop several hundred feet and out of the clouds. 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? The group decided to camp that night inside the tail section. Flight 571 Plane Crash Survivors Made Gruesome Cannibal Pact News Au Australia S Leading Site. All 16 survivors of the 1972 Andes plane crash have reunited for the 50th anniversary, according to a report. They flew in heavy cloud cover under instrument conditions to Los Maitenes de Curic where the army interviewed Parrado and Canessa. [15], They continued east the next morning. Parrado gave a similar shoe to his friends at the crash site before he left for the cordillera and guided rescuers back. We knew the answer, but it was too terrible to contemplate. An Uruguayan air force plane carrying a private college rugby team crashed in a rugged mountain pass while en route from Montevideo to Santiago, Chile, in October 1972. [4], The Chilean Air Force provided three Bell UH-1 helicopters to assist with the rescue.
The amazing survival story of a Uruguayan rugby team in 1972 Others had open fractures to the legs and without treatment none of that group survived the next two and a half months in the frozen wilderness. Surrounded by corpses frozen in the snow the group made the decision to eat from the bodies to stay alive. We have a very small space. [49] Sergio Cataln died on 11 February 2020[50] at the age of 91. He requested permission from air traffic control to descend. 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]. This edition also has a new subtitle: Sixteen Men, Seventy-two Days, and Insurmountable Odds: The Classic Adventure of Survival in the Andes. STRAUCH: Yeah. The crew were dead and the radio didn't have any batteries. On the return trip, they were struck by a blizzard. Man Utd revive interest in Barcelona star De Jong, Alonso pips Verstappen with Hamilton fourth ahead of thrilling pole fight, Experience live F1 races onboard with any driver in 2023, Papers: Chelsea divided on future of head coach Potter, PL Predictions: Maddison to spark Leicester into life, How Casemiro silenced doubters to become Man Utd cult hero, What is Chelsea's best XI? We are weak. The steep terrain only permitted the pilot to touch down with a single skid. [47] The trip to the location takes three days. To get there, they needed to fly a small plane over the rugged Andes mountains. Paez said he has made a career of traveling the world to lecture about his ordeal in the mountains. A few seconds later, Daniel Shaw and Carlos Valeta fell out of the rear fuselage. The ordeal "taught me that we set our own limits", he said.
[2] His body was found by fellow passengers on 14 December. "That was probably the moment when the pilots saw the black ridge rising dead ahead. Vizintn and Parrado reached the base of a near-vertical wall more than one hundred meters (300 feet) tall encased in snow and ice. The boys, from Uruguay's coast had never seen snow before. They were abandoned, and in their minds condemned to die. A paperback which referenced the film Alive: The Miracle of the Andes, was released in 1993. The Chilean military photographed the bodies and mapped the area. Story [ edit] Main article: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 The crash and rescue
'Alive': Uruguay plane crash survivors savor life 50 years on And at the end - absolutely disconnected with the origin of that food. Then, "he began to climb, until the plane was nearly vertical and it began to stall and shake. [17] Since the plane crash, Canessa had lost almost half of his body weight, about 44 kilograms (97lb). [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. [2] The search area included their location and a few aircraft flew near the crash site. He was in the ninth row of seats. The plane crashed into the Andes mountains on Friday 13 October 1972. [35] On 23 December, news reports of cannibalism were published worldwide, except in Uruguay.
The True Story Behind a Rugby Team's Plane Crash In the Andes Parrado and Canessa hiked for several more days. Parrado was sure this was their way out of the mountains. "You and I are friends, Nando. The survivors lacked medical supplies, cold-weather clothing and equipment or food, and only had three pairs of sunglasses among them to help prevent snow blindness. They concluded that the Uruguayans should never have made it. After some debate the next morning, they decided that it would be wiser to return to the tail, remove the aircraft's batteries, and take them back to the fuselage so they might power up the radio and make an SOS call to Santiago for help.[17]. "I would ask myself: is it worth doing this? [15] They were also spared the daily manual labor around the crash site that was essential for the group's survival, so they could build their strength. "At about this time we were falling in the Andes. Javier Methol and his wife Liliana, the only surviving female passenger, were the last survivors to eat human flesh. 13 bodies were untouched, while another 15 were mostly skeletal. They took over harvesting flesh from their deceased friends and distributing it to the others. The rations did not last long, and in order to stay alive it became necessary for the survivors to eat the bodies of the dead. We had long since run out of the meagre pickings we'd found on the plane, and there was no vegetation or animal life to be found. [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.
Stranded: The Andes Plane Crash Survivors - Independent Lens