The story began on October 12, 1972, which was undoubtedly a beautiful day, as friends and family were wrapped up in conversation on Flight 571. The Fairchild FH-227D was on a charter flight from Montevideo, Uruguay, carrying 45 passengers and crew. Passengers were members of a Uruguayan rugby team, as well as their friends and families. It was headed to Santiago, Chile, for a game by the rugby team.
It started as a thrilling adventure and quickly devolved into terror over the Andes Mountains in what was some of the worst turbulence ever recorded over that part of Chile. The plane’s crew, apparently lost in the bad weather and the rough mountains, veered off course. On October 13, the plane crashed into a remote part of the Andes at an altitude of 3,570 meters (11,710 feet), instantly killing 12 passengers during the crash.
The Titans had to battle unimaginable problems in the wake of the accident. Surrounded by cold, high mountains with little food and no way to communicate. As the picture below shows, initial attempts to find the wreckage/place rescue teams on this remote and forbidding terrain failed, and after eight days below zero, in reality, most of them simply decided to head back home with no survivors found as a conclusion.
The surviving injured and weather-beaten survivors rationed the little food they could rescue from the plane. The trouble began in earnest as days transitioned to weeks They had to consider cannibalism and turn to eating the bodies of those around them in order to survive. The decision was taken together, after much sadness and in great despair, for survival.
Weeks went by and it was obvious they would not be rescued, so the survivors had only one chance to make up for that, which was… That day, December 12, two of the ablest survivors, Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa, decided that they would attempt to walk across the mountains. Their crude supplies rested on the shoulders of these mountain men as they made their scientific trek through the snowy Andes for ten days.
It was a dangerous journey, with mountainous terrain and severe weather encountered across the Red Center. Finally, on December 20, after an agonizing walk, they met a Chilean shepherd named Sergio Catalán. Nonetheless, Mauricio’s friend Catalán recognized the severity of the crisis and alerted authorities.
On December 21, 1972, 72 days after the crash, rescue helicopters finally came to the crash site. The sight of the helicopters brought indescribable joy and feelings to the survivors. The rescuers were shocked at both the ordeal the survivors had undergone and the sheer willpower that had kept them surviving.
A total of sixteen survivors were lifted to safety over the next two days. The story of their survival, thus, went around the world and kept inspiring millions of people.
The afterlife of the survivors of Flight 571 was not too bright. At a physical level, they sustained trauma to their bones and tissues and were severely malnourished. There was also a mental aspect of the ordeal. They could never erase from their minds the horrific things they saw happening to each other.
Additionally, some faith survivors lived through shame for being alive and not having been strong enough to avoid the desperate measures to which their colleagues had had to resort. Still, the majority of these survivors were evidently accepted back in their environments and learned to appreciate their second chance.
Although many could never avoid their shared trauma, they managed to keep it from defining their identities. Most literature concerning Flight 571 has been written on the subject of loss and gained life and death, most prominently Piers Paul Read’s book Alive and the subsequent 1993 film, also called Alive.
List of Passengers Flight 571
1. Fernando Parrado
2. Roberto Canessa
3. Gustavo Zerbino
4. Eduardo Strauch
5. Adolfo “Fito” Strauch
6. Roy Harley
7. José Pedro Algorta
8. Ramón “Moncho” Sabella
9. Carlos “Carlitos” Páez Rodríguez
10. Daniel Fernández
11. Alfredo “Pancho” Delgado
12. Numa Turcatti
13. Javier Methol
14. Liliana Methol (Javier Methol’s wife)
15. Rafael Echavarren
16. Antonio “Tintin” Vizintin
17. Alvaro Mangino
18. Roberto Francois
19. Francisco “Panchito” Abal
20. Guido Magri
21. Daniel Maspons
22. Juan Carlos “Coche” Lorenzo
23. Diego Storm
24. Marcelo Pérez
25. Enrique Platero
26. Fernando “Nando” Seler
27. Cecilia Negri
28. Susana Parrado
29. Liliana Navarro
30. Graciela Mariani
31. Arturo Nogueira
32. Felipe Maquirriain
33. Alexis Hounié
34. Gustavo Nicolich
35. Francisco “Coco” Nicolich
36. Ruben “Ruggie” Gonzalez
37. Marcelo Perez (the rugby team captain)
38. Daniel Shaw
39. Eugenia Dolgay (Daniel Shaw’s wife)
40. Juan “Jackie” Metol
41. Eduardo “Tito” Ferradas (co-pilot)
42. Dante Lagurara (pilot)
43. Carlos Roque (mechanic)
44. Javier Metol’s wife
45. Fernando Parrado’s mother
List of Survivors Flight 571
1. Fernando Parrado
2. Roberto Canessa
3. Gustavo Zerbino
4. Eduardo Strauch
5. Adolfo “Fito” Strauch
6. Roy Harley
7. José Pedro Algorta
8. Ramón “Moncho” Sabella
9. Carlos “Carlitos” Páez Rodríguez
10. Daniel Fernández
11. Alfredo “Pancho” Delgado
12. Numa Turcatti
13. Javier Methol
14. Liliana Methol
15. Rafael Echavarren
16. Antonio “Tintin” Vizintin
17. Alvaro Mangino
18. Roberto Francois
19. Francisco “Panchito” Abal
These passengers survived extreme hardship and displayed remarkable solidity, with 16 survivors rescued after 72 harrowing days in the Andes Mountains. You may also read our other story about Mistry of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.
