Andes Plane Crash survivors now - haunting memories of cannibalism and reunion

09 January 2024 , 19:50

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There were only 16 survivors of the 1972 Miracle of the Andes

It was the real-life disaster movie that saw its victims turn to cannibalism to survive against the odds.

Out of the 45 passengers and crew on board the ill-fated Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 in 1972, only 16 survived following a catastrophic plane crash that saw them battle starvation and harsh landscapes in a bid to stay alive across a 72-day ordeal. Through testimonies of the survivors, the harrowing tale has been told through books, documentaries, and now the new Netflix film Society of Snow, an adaptation of Pablo Vierci's 2009 book, has been tipped for an Oscar.

After the commendable film landed on the streaming platform, Channel 5 has also launched a documentary on the terrifying calamity - Andes Plane Crash, which airs tonight. Through testimonies, the three-part series focuses on their memories in their fight to be rescued and the events that unfolded that later became known as 'The Miracle of the Andes'.

Of those travelling on October 13, 19 were from Montevideo's Old Christians Club rugby union team, who were flying alongside friends, supporters and family as they were set to play in Santiago, Chile. Their team president chartered the flight especially to get them over the South American mountain range.

Carlos Paez, one of the 16 survivors of an air plane crash in the Chilean Andes in 1972 (AFP via Getty Images)

During the flight, authorities said the pilot veered off course in a dense fog before crashing into the snowy Andes mountains. Three crew members and nine passengers died immediately in the crash, meaning 33 survived, but several more died shortly after due to their injuries and freezing temperatures.

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While rescue teams flew over the crash site several times in the following days, the white fuselage was camouflaged in the white snow. As such, rescue efforts were devastatingly called off after eight days - which the survivors harrowingly heard on the radio.

In the next 72 days, 13 more passengers died after being exposed to extreme weather conditions including avalanches. In the end, only 16 were rescued from the crash, all of which were young men. They had to go to extreme lengths as they spent weeks in the freezing mountains, where they fashioned sleeping bags, melted snow to drink and were forced to eat friends' corpses.

Nando Parrado, survived the aeroplane crash in the Chilean Andes in 1972 (Getty Images)

One survivor is Carlos Paez, who spoke to the Sunday Times amid a 50th-anniversary reunion in 2022, joked: "I'm condemned to tell this story forever more, just like the Beatles always having to sing Yesterday." It was reportedly medical student Roberto Canessa's suggestion to eat the bodies of the deceased.

Paez continued: "Of course, the idea of eating human flesh was terrible, repugnant. It was hard to put in your mouth. But we got used to it. In a sense, our friends were some of the first organ donors in the world - they helped to nourish us and kept us alive."

Other survivors made a pact that those who lived could eat who had died due to the exposure. He said: "We promised each other that if one of us died, the others were obliged to eat their bodies"

Another survivor who lived to tell the tale was Nando Parrado. Speaking in his 2006 memoir, he explained of the decision to resort to cannibalism: "Again and again, I came to the same conclusion: Unless we wanted to eat the clothes we were wearing, there was nothing here but aluminium, plastic, ice, and rock."

Roberto Canessa was one of the three who set off on foot to try and get help (Raul Martinez/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

Before putting pen to paper, he couldn't bring himself to speak about the ordeal for a 26-year period. He lost his mother and sister in the crash, and has haunting memories of seeing his sister lying in the cockpit with purple feet before she died in his arms on the eighth day.

He melted snow with his mouth to give her water, as she couldn't move or talk. "Those are the images that I have," he said to the Guardian. Parrado himself was initially presumed dead and was left in the snow, which was in fact a blessing. Neuroscientists later told him that the cold and dehydration stopped his head injury from swelling and ultimately killing him.

He has since argued the aircraft was unfit for purpose. He told the Guardian that he had been naive to have boarded the plane that fateful day. "A Fairchild FH-227D, very underpowered engines, full of people, completely loaded, flying over the highest mountains in South America, in bad weather," he said. "I mean, no way."

Nando is now close to retiring after having a successful career running a television company whilst simultaneously growing the family hardware business. He has a wife, Veronique, two daughters and four grandchildren.

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Jose Luis 'Coche' Inciarte pictured in 2020 with his wife

Survivor Jose Luis 'Coche' Inciarte, who died last July aged 75, wrote in the Mirror about how they had initially dug a tunnel towards the cockpit to be able to escape from the wreckage through a window. "Seeing my friends emerging into clean, white snow after being buried for three days felt symbolic, like we had all been reborn," he said.

However, spending time in a cramped confinement caused gangrene in his right leg. To avoid amputation, he cut a deep cross in his foot with a razor blade to allow oxygen to the wound. But after that, he was in too much discomfort to move and could barely eat.

He had lost 45 kilos in weight, with his friends having to supply him with food and water. After two months of losing all hope of being saved, it was Roberto Canessa, Nando Parrado and Antonio ‘Tintín’ Vizintín set off to walk to Chile to find help on December 12. They filled their rugby socks with human flesh and climbed about three miles down the mountain during a 10-day journey.

A multi-day helicopter came and rescued the remainder of the survivors. Those who did make it were Roberto Canessa, Fernando Parrado, Carlos Rodriguez, Jose Algorta, Alfredo Delgado, Daniel Fernandez, Roberto Francios, Roy Harley, Jose Inciarte, Alvaro Mangino, Javier Methol, Ramon Sabella, Adolfo Strauch, Eduardo Strauch, Antonio Vizintia and Gustavo Zerbino.

Parrado has hailed the new Netflix movie as a "magnificent piece of filmmaking" and said after watching the film, his wife turned to him and said: "F**k, man. I didn’t know it was so hard. Now I understand." Meanwhile, Carlos Paez appears on screen for a few minutes in the role of his own father. He said that watching the movie made him "smell the experience all over again".

Every year on December 22, the 'brothers in the mountains' gather to mark the anniversary of their rescue. In 2022, they commemorated the 50th anniversary alongside their families.

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