![]() The courage of one person kept the group going. Giving up hope was the only way to survive. By giving up hope of being rescued, they could finally make the tough decisions that lay ahead to save themselves. He told everyone it was good news, because they were going to rescue themselves. Upon hearing the news, everyone broke down into tears and prayer except for Gustavo Nicolich. On the 11th day, the survivors scavenged a transistor radio from the cockpit and learned that they were on their own. Because the plane was white and they were so high up, search crews never found them and the search was called off after only 8 days. on the cockpit, but gave up after realizing they didn’t have enough to make it visible. ![]() The survivors tried using lipstick to paint S.O.S. By placing water bottles under it, they could collect water, but it was a slow process. They were able to melt snow by placing it on metal they had ripped out of the seats. They did their best to ration these, but they quickly ran out. The only food on board were small bars of chocolate the airline gave to passengers and several bottles of wine. During the day it was warm enough to lounge outside the plane, but at night their only warmth came from the body heat of their fellow survivors. Unfortunately, few of them had jackets and their shoes were designed for playing rugby, not scaling down the side of a mountain in the winter. Five more people died that first night on the mountain.Īfter no rescue came the next day, they used luggage and clothing to block up the hole, keeping the elements at bay. All night the freezing winds kept them awake and suffering. When it crashed, it had split in two and the survivors found themselves huddled in the frontmost section of the plane with a giant hole letting in the wind and snow. At night the temperature would drop below freezing and their only shelter was the wreckage of the plane. The First Obstacle: Extreme Coldīeing that high up in the mountains will kill you if you don’t have a way to protect yourself against the elements. Due to the deadly crash, when the seats of the plane were all smashed together by the impact, many of the survivors had injuries and could not walk due to broken legs. The survivors found themselves almost 12,000 feet up with little rations and almost no cold weather gear. Of the 45 people on board, 12 had died instantly in the crash. This name could not be more appropriate. The flight carrying the Old Christians Club rugby union team from Montevideo, Uruguay and their families crashed into the Andes. It would eventually become known as Glaciar de las Lágrimas or Glacier of Tears. The events that followed were enough to give the crash site a name. Before this day, that mountain where this frightening crash occurred had no name. In the afternoon hours, while navigating a low pass in the mountains, a combination of simple miscalculations and mother nature’s unpredictability turned what should have been an easy flight, into 72 days in hell.įlight 571 made a miscalculated turn too early to the west under heavy cloud cover, which caused a controlled descent into terrain. The choices they made were not easy, but they used everything they could to stay alive. With almost no rations and no hope of survival, they stuck together and saved themselves. October 13th, 1972: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571. That exact scenario happened exactly 44 years ago… and it’s much worse than you may think… It’s a true story of survival that exposes the lengths to which some people will go to survive just one more day. Sound far fetched? Unfortunately, it’s not.
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