They ate the meat of other passengers the story of saving 16 victims of the "571" plane 49 years ago

On December 22, 1972, what is known historically as “the miracle of the Andes” occurred, as 16 victims of “Flight 571” were rescued after they had stayed among the frozen Andes for more than two months, during which they managed to survive by eating the flesh of the other dead passengers. .

Following the crash of the plane carrying a rugby team via "Flight 571", in the high altitudes of the Andes Mountains in the Argentine province of "Mendosa", a flight that was flying between Montevideo in Uruguay and Santiago in Chile, a number of passengers died on the spot.

The remaining forty passengers and five crew members tried to survive the snowstorms and the rugged Andean peaks. But the matter became more difficult with the victims not finding any buildings near the site of the accident, as well as the failure of rescue missions to find the plane because the plane's white color was indistinguishable with the snow that covered the entire body of the plane.

But a total of 16 passengers managed to survive for 72 days by feeding on a little meat from other victims in order not to catch up with the other dead, to eventually be rescued on December 22, 1972, after two of them managed to walk for ten days to seek help, while it was considered a story of resilience. The 16 passengers and their surviving the harsh weather and rugged terrain is an unprecedented miracle.

Flight 571

On October 12, 1972, Fairchild FH-227D, carrying "Flight 571", took off from Carrasco International Airport in Montevideo, Uruguay, towards Francisco Gabriele International Airport in Santiago, Chile.

Most of the passengers were young students and members of the Montevideo Old Christians rugby union team, which was due to play in Chile.

Unfortunately, the plane stopped for one night in the Argentine city of Mendoza, while the pilot of the plane, Julio Veradas, decided to cross the Andes Mountains the next day, thinking that the weather had improved, and that he could avoid the thick clouds.

After take-off, the flight faced a very early problem, as a part of the right wing of the plane crashed, which seriously damaged the fuselage, crashing into one of the mountain peaks after its pilot lost control of it. The Argentine-Chilean border.

Two months in an icy desert

Following the crash, 29 passengers, including all five crew members, died either during the crash or in the following days due to harsh weather conditions.

The survivors were trapped in one of the peaks between snow and freezing cold, and what increased the despair and loss of hope among the passengers is that they learned after reinstalling a radio they had found in the cockpit of the plane, that search operations had been stopped eight days after the accident, after the teams could not Rescue from distinguishing the white plane in the middle of a vast icy desert.

The survivors learned at that time that they had become isolated without food or shelter, but they made a difficult decision, after the end of what was left of their food, they decided to resort to eating the meat of the deceased passengers in small quantities, as their bodies were preserved during the 72 days due to the cold and snow, and they also worked to melt some Ice to drink it.

The miracle of the Andes

The survivors of the "Flight 571" accident, some of whom are still alive, say that since the first days of the accident, some suggested going out and searching for populated areas, but all these attempts failed due to the cold, altitude, malnutrition and snow blindness that prevented the movement of survivors for long distances. far.

However, two survivors, Fernando Parado and Roberto Canesa, agreed to go out in search of help and took with them the warmest clothes and enough flesh of the victims, and after ten days of walking through the high mountain range, they stopped by a river, where they were decimated by fatigue and malnutrition , until they were found by a Chilean horse rider named Sergio Catalan, who reported their presence to the authorities.

On December 22, 1972, two military helicopters went to the site of the accident and were guided by a survivor, Paradou, and the survivors languishing at the wreckage of the plane were rescued, and everyone was sent for treatment in hospitals, where they were suffering from malnutrition, dehydration, lack of vital vitamins, in addition to altitude sickness.