On Friday, October 13, 1972, a Fairchild 227 airplane with 45 people on board crashed in the Andes. Thus began one of the most incredible stories of human survival.
The group, made up of young rugby players, their friends and relatives, was forced to undertake a titanic battle against adversity.
At almost 4,000 m altitude, surrounded and trapped by the snowy Andes mountain range, without food, without water, without adequate clothing and enduring temperatures as low as -30ºC, they managed to survive inside the front part of the fuselage.
On the tenth day, they learned through a small radio receiver (which they found among the luggage scattered around the fuselage) that the search for the plane had been suspended, leaving them presumed dead.
From the very beginning, many things had to be reinvented: learning to produce water at that extremely low temperature or using seat covers as precarious and insufficient insulation, etc. The lack of food also forced them to make a difficult decision, one that would generate strong controversy upon their return. As their only way to see their loved ones again, they decided to feed on the bodies of the deceased.
Sixteen days after the accident, an avalanche buried them all. Eight other people died from asphyxiation. Knowing they were abandoned, they realized that getting out of there alive was entirely up to them. They organized themselves as a group and undertook several expeditions. Finally, two of them managed to cross the Andes mountain range on foot, with enormous sacrifice and inhuman conditions.
After 10 days and nights with virtually no food, shelter, or adequate clothing, they found the muleteer Sergio Catalán. He rode for eight hours to the nearest Civil Guard post to report their plight. Thanks to his actions and deeds, 72 days of hunger, pain, suffering, despair… and hope for a better tomorrow came to an end.
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