Uruguay RWC squad plane carrying 45 people, including an Uruguayan Rugby World Cup team and some of their friends and family, crashed in the Andes highlands of Argentina more than 50 years ago. Rugby World Cup 2023 fans can buy New Zealand Vs Uruguay Tickets from our website.
Before they were rescued, the survivors had to endure harsh conditions for ten weeks, including subzero temperatures, two consecutive avalanches, and near famine, which forced them to eat off the corpses of their dead comrades to survive.
According to Nando Parrado, one of the 16 survivors of the crash of the Uruguay RWC squad plane, “We are dead men walking, but…we are still walking. In the ABC News Studios documentary “Prisoners of The Snow,” Parrado and others who survived the experience recount their extraordinary tale of dread, loss, and survival. The film will premiere on ABC on May 22 at 9 p.m. ET and stream on Hulu the following day. The two-hour program will also feature photos shot by the passengers who survived the 72-day journey in addition to interviews with survivors, mountaineers, and survival specialists.
The amateur Old Christians Club Rugby World Cup 2023 team was scheduled to board the aircraft from Montevideo, Uruguay RWC squad plane the flight to Santiago, Chile on October 12, 1972, in preparation for an exhibition match against the Old Boys Club, an English RWC 2023 side playing in Santiago. The following afternoon, the aircraft again took off for Santiago despite strong gusts.
Uruguay RWC squad plane 26,000 feet to fly directly over the Andes Mountain range
According to aviation expert and ABC News contributor John Nance, the Fairchild aircraft was unable to reach the required 26,000 feet to fly directly over the Andes Mountain range. As a result, the pilots chose a U-shaped path that allowed them to fly lower via a mountain pass.
The pilots started their descent after air traffic control gave them the all-clear. Nance stated they were unaware that it was too soon or that they were traveling directly into the Andes. The jet crashed into the mountain because the Uruguay RWC squad plane pilot was unable to clear the ridgeline.
The Uruguay RWC squad plane crash tore off the tail and both wings. The surviving fuselage descended the mountain at a rapid rate until it reached the valley’s floor. One of the survivors, Roberto Canessa, said, “I was flung with an unbelievable amount of force, and while I was fainting. I was realizing that I was alive and the plane had stopped.
The Uruguay RWC squad plane collision claimed the lives of twelve persons. The injuries suffered by the remaining 33 survivors ranged in severity. Two of the survivors, including Canessa who was a medical student at the time and had medical expertise, rushed to help the injured.
Due to a skull injury, Parrado himself spent three days in a coma before emerging. I said, “I’m not dead.” Why? He needed to drink, so. I required a beverage. I said, “If I’m thirsty, I’m not dead.” Parrado thought back. Until their anticipated impending rescue, Parrado and the other survivors would have to fight to satisfy their hunger and thirst.
Resourceful Ingenuity and Unlikely Sustenance in the Face of Adversity
They were surrounded by snow, but there was no way to convert it into water at first. Snow may be eaten, but it hurts your mouth, according to survivor Carlos Páez Rodrguez, who spoke to ABC News.
Eventually, the survivors created a machine that converted snow into water using sunlight utilizing metal from the debris. Ricardo Pena, a mountaineer, claimed that their food supply was constrained. During those early days, according to survivors. They would also have a glass of wine and a little piece of chocolate or fish on a cracker. Rugby World Cup fans can buy Uruguay Vs Namibia Tickets from our website.
On day 10, the plane’s transistor radio informed them that the search had been suspended. The survivors said that after lengthy deliberations and out of desperation, the gang made the difficult choice to gather the dead passengers’ remains for nourishment. They could only survive by doing that. It was likened to partaking in communion.
We shook hands and requested that you utilize my body if I pass away. Thus, at least you may leave this place. And tell my family I love them,” Added Parrado. On day 17, while the gang worked to devise a strategy for how to securely seek assistance, they would come upon a new fatal trap. The fuselage was quickly swept away by two avalanches as they raced down the mountain.
You are dying, Canessa stated, and you are unable to move, hear, or see. In the avalanche, eight of the first survivors perished. The remaining 19 survivors were trapped in a compact area that might have held four people comfortably between the snow and the bulkhead.
I was still alive and to stop crying
The bodies within the fuselage that did not escape the avalanche were their only source of nourishment. Eating a dead body is a terrible, very embarrassing act, Canessa declared. “I considered my mother and the possibility I had to let her know I was still alive and to stop crying. And to gain time to accomplish that, I had to consume the corpses.
The survivors claimed they were able to dig their way out of the snow and saw sunshine after three days.
The survivors had a strong incentive to keep looking for methods to return to civilization. After some searching, Canessa, Parrado, and one of their comrades, Antonio “Tintin” Vizint, discovered the plane’s tail. They claimed to have discovered luggage inside that had some warm clothes, some food, and batteries.
Well, we could link it to the radio and get the radio to operate and call for assistance, they said, Pea replied. It made sense to use the radio to ask for assistance rather than putting our lives in danger.
Ultimately, they were unable to make the radio function.
Eventually, the survivors came up with a plan in which Parrado, Canessa, and Vizintin would flee. According to an interview the survivors gave John Guiver, the author of “To Play the Game,” which detailed their story, the survivors made sure that Parrado, Canessa, and Vizintn, whom they referred to as “the expeditionary,” ate a larger portion of the food supplies after this was decided.
On December 12—day 61 of their ordeal—the guys set out to be saved armed with many layers of clothes, travel supplies, and a sleeping bag they pieced together from pieces of the plane wreckage. They planned to go up to the top of the mountain one day from the valley where the fuselage was.
Parrado was disappointed to discover snow-capped mountains all around them rather than Chile’s lush plains. The moment I reached the crest of the first mountain and saw what lay ahead was the most terrifying for me during the 10-day walk, Parrado recalled.
The walk took longer than they had anticipated, so Parrado advised Canessa and Vizintin that Vizintin should go down to inform the others while leaving Parrado and Canessa in charge of Vizintin’s food allotment. The descent of the mountain proved to be much more difficult for Parrado and Canessa, and Parrado reported that his shoes started to fracture. during their ninth day of travel.
Discovering Signs of Life and the Desperate Pursuit of Rescue
When the soldiers arrived at a river bank, they discovered evidence of life, such as animals, cow tracks, and a rusty soup can. They reached a crucial juncture in their journey thanks to the path. Cannesa remembered watching a guy ride a horse down a tiny mountain’s slope. Parrado was instantly informed and started scurrying down the slope in the direction of the man.
Sergio Catalan, a guy on a horse, was drawn to Parrado, but Canessa claimed that they were unable to communicate due to the river’s audible roaring in their vicinity. However, he claimed to have overheard the Catalan phrase “mana,” which is Spanish for tomorrow, and indicated when he would be returning.
The future we had always imagined was now a reality, according to Canessa.
The following day, Catalan and his two boys came back and tossed Parrado a rock over the river with some paper and a pencil attached. I came from a plane that crashed in the mountains, Parrado scribbled down a letter that would ultimately affect both his and his fellow survivors’ fates. I’m from Uruguay. We had been on the go for ten days. 14 of my buddies were hurt in the collision. Help is needed. No food is available to us. Would you please come to fetch us?
He went for assistance as soon as he got my message, according to Parrado. “And that was perhaps the most upbeat time of the previous 72 days. Many of the survivors would live long lives and start children after leaving the spotlight and celebrity. We believed in one another. We battled for one another, according to Parrado. This is a rugby narrative, then. I am grateful to RWC 2023.
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