On October 13th, 1972, an Uruguayan plane traveling from Montevideo to Santiago, Chile, crashed in the Andes mountains. On board were the ...
On October 13th, 1972, an Uruguayan plane traveling from Montevideo to Santiago, Chile, crashed in the Andes mountains. On board were the Old Christians Club, a rugby team, and family members who were going to a match against a Chilean team. Of the 45 people on board, 25 survived, but 8 of them died two weeks later when an avalanche hit the crash site.
Trapped in the snow at an altitude of more than 4,000 meters, the survivors eventually resorted to one of the grisliest acts of self-preservation imaginable – they were forced to eat the flesh of dead friends and family members who had been preserved in the cold.
After more than 8 weeks without rescue, two of the athletes, 21-year-old Fernando Parrado and 19-year-old Roberto Canessa decided to hike off into the wilderness in an attempt to find help. After 10 days, they came across a livestock herder, and the next day, a search team in helicopters reached the survivors. Their story was made into a book and a movie, both called “Alive.”
