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ALIVE TRIBUTE
On October 12th, 1972
a small plane full of rugby players, fans and family members
of the Old Christians
Rugby Football Club, from Stella Maris University in Carrasco,
Montevideo, Uruguay headed on a flight to Santiago, Chile
for a friendly game of rugby.
72 Days after their plane
went down in the Andes Mountains and surviving off of their
own teammates flesh for nutrition, the Ruggers stayed "ALIVE"
and were found on a cold Christmas Eve afternoon, 72 days
with no food.
Choosing to take a turbo-prop cargo plane instead of a commercial
flight to save money like most rugby teams.
(Sounds like WSC's idea of taking a U-Haul down to Texas with
35 folding lawn-chairs in the back of the U-Haul).
The events
during this 72 days in unbelievable. Forget about "Fear Factor"
and "Survivor", this is the real deal. The last
few days the team was down to just lungs and intestines of
their fallen mates.
This incredible story has had two movies released from the
tragedy. One movie released in 1976 and another in 1993. One
version has the story based on rugby players and for some
reason Hollywood made the other movie about a soccer team
in the other production.
Famous quotes have been
taken from the rugby survivors including:
"We
ate our Prop, he lasted a while"
"If we were soccer players, we all would of died."
And the most famous bumper sticker of all----"Rugby players
eat their dead".
30th
Anniversary Game
Oct. 12th 2002
With the surviving players now in their mid 50's, the game
scheduled between the OLD CHRISTIANS vs. Santiago Old Boys
was played in front of a packed stadium in Santiago, Chile.
Two very old, but identical helicopters that rescued the Old
Christians 30 years earlier flew in the game ball and hovered
over the pitch just before kickoff, with the wind from the
propellers blowing cold air against their faces just as their
rescue day 30 years ago.
In a game played short because of their age, and playing
just 20-minute halves, the OLD CHRISTIANS RFC played very
emotional for their fallen mates and winning 28-11.
Please take your time to read about this incredible story
and team unity to stay "ALIVE".
Story Listed Below:
Friday, October 12, 1972, A Fairchild FH-227 twin turboprop
airplane crosses the Andes Mountains carrying 40 passengers
and 5 crew. The plane would disappear from the modern world
and everyone on board thought to be dead, but 72 days later,
16 would emerge alive and tell their story...
The co-pilot, Lt. Col. Lagurara, had been flying the plane
throughout the entire flight. Beside him in the seat traditionally
meant for the co-pilot sat Col. Ferradas, commander of the
Fairchild. In the passenger compartment behind them the passengers
enjoyed a routine flight. Some read, played cards, or chatted
among their friends. Some were tossing a rugby ball back and
forth along the cabin. At 3:24 on the afternoon of the 13th,
Lagurara radioed to Santiago that he was over Curico, Santiago
Control acknowledged and ordered Lagurara to turn north and
descend to 10,000 feet. This
would have been fine if the Fairchild had been over Curico
as the co-pilot reported, but a headwind had slowed the plane
and it was in reality just over Planchon - still within the
mountains. Santiago in turn took Lagurara's report
as true and instructed him as if he were clear on the west
side of the mountains.
At about 3:30 the Fairchild dipped into the clouds and encountered
turbulence, the "Fasten Seat Belts" sign flashed
on and the Steward paced the aisle making sure the passengers
did as instructed before taking his seat at the back of the
cabin. The plane hit at least two airpockets and swiftly sank
below the clouds revealing mountains on all sides, Lagurara
and Ferradas threw the engine throttles to full and tried
to pull the Fairchild out of the mountains but in the thin
air the propellers had little to grab onto. At an altitude
of about 14,000 feet the right wing clipped a jagged mountain
peak.
The wing splintered off and flung back and over the plane,
smashing down on the fuselage and breaking the Fairchild's
tail section off at the galley, the severed tail tore away.
A split second later the left wing struck the rocks and broke
loose, the propeller chewing into the cabin as the wing fragmented
and fell to the ground. In these first moments of the crash,
five of the people
in the rear of the passenger cabin fell to their deaths from
the gaping hole where the tail had been:
·
Ramon Martinez, the navigator
· Ovidio Ramirez, the steward
· Gaston Costemalle
· Alejo Hounie
· Guido Magri
The plane continued forward through the air, dropping down
onto the mountain, the fuselage careened down an 80 degree
slope like a toboggan from hell. The sudden deceleration caused
the passenger seats to break lose from their mountings and
fall forward in a mass. As the fuselage continued ploughing
down the mountain two more passengers, Daniel Shaw and Carlos
Valeta, were thrown from the back. One of the passengers,
Gustavo Zerbino, jumped from the mass of seats falling forward
and planted his hands on the ceiling, his feet on the floor,
Zerbino prayed aloud; another passenger, Carlitos Paez, began
praying Hail Marys. As the slope began to level off and the
snow got deeper the nose of the Fairchild crumpled back, sandwiching
the cockpit and the pilots before the fuselage slammed to
a halt in a deep bank of snow. The bulkhead separating the
passenger cabin from the forward luggage compartment had given
way, and passengers, seats, luggage and other debris ended
up in a pile at the forward end of the fuselage. Those
few who were able to emerged from the heap and went out the
hole where the tail had been. Passenger Bobby Francois took
a seat and lit a cigarette, he was soon joined by Carlitos
Paez and Diego Storm.
A fluttering above them caught their attention, looking
up the mountain the three young men saw Carlos Valeta stumbling
down the slope. Though apparently injured, Valeta was trying
to get down the mountain, he'd slip and get back up, weaving
back and forth until he stepped into a soft patch of snow
and sank from view. Storm and Paez tried to venture out to
him, but the snow was to deep. Carlos Valeta was gone. Inside
the plane Roberto Canessa, a rugby player and medical student
was doing his best to extricate the passengers from their
seats, Gustavo Zerbino, another med student, was doing to
same.
In time they found
that three people in the passenger cabin were dead: The team
physician, Dr. Nicola and his wife, Esther, and Eugenia Parrado,
the mother of rugby player Nando Parrado. Parrado himself
lay unconscious with a bleeding head wound, and his sister
Susana suffered broken bones and internal injuries. Nando's
best friend Panchito Abal also sustained a head wound. Another
young man, Fernando Vazquez, was found to have bled to death
soon after the crash. Graziela Mariani lay pinned among a
tangle of seats, her legs broken and suffering internal injuries,
her moans were constant.
Many survivors had leg injuries from when the seats piled
forward, among the most serious were those sustained by Arturo
Noguiera and Rafael Echavarren; Noguiera had broken both legs,
and Echavarren had the calf muscle of his right leg twisted
off, the muscle had to be relocated and wrapped in place with
a shirt. One passenger, Enrique Platero, had landed on a steel
pipe which stabbed into his abdomen and remained there, amazingly
after the pipe was removed Platero moved along to assist the
others.
The plane's mechanic, Carlos Roque,
emerged from his seat in the luggage room with a head wound,
the young airman walked zombie-like from the wreckage, and
sat in the snow. The debris piled in the luggage area made
it difficult to access the cockpit from the inside, seeing
this one of the passengers, Moncho Sabella, ventured outside
along the fuselage using seat cushions as snow shoes.
Sabella found the forward cabin door
ajar, and slipped inside past the luggage and into the cockpit.
Col. Ferradas had died, probably instantly, his body crushed
between the instrument panel and rear bulkhead when the nose
crumpled. Lagurara was alive but terribly injured and like
Ferradas was pinned in his seat. Summoned by Sabella, Canessa
and Zerbino found their way to the cockpit but Lagurara was
beyond their help. Nothing could be done for the man.
As they settled in for the night they found the cold unbearable,
they had no blankets save for the nylon seat covers, and the
jagged tear at the back remained open for the arctic air to
blow in. The team captain Marcelo Perez, Roy Harley, and Numa
Turcatti, who had been huddled near the break, sought to plug
the hole. Using suitcases, seats, and whatever debris they
could utilize, they built a makeshift wall at the break in
the plane.
The morning of October 14 arrived on the mountain, like the
day before the temperature was frigid and the sky overcast.
It was found that four people had died during the night: Lt.
Col. Lagurara, Fillipe Maquirriain, Julio Martinez-Lamas and
Panchito Abal. Later in the morning Grazeila Mariani died
of her injuries. Of the 45 people who set out from Montevideo
on the Fairchild two days before, only 27 remained.
In the days to follow the crash of the Fairchild, the survivors
held hope that they would be rescued, on the 3rd day a plane
passed overhead, the survivors screamed and waved their hands
in the air, and they were sure the plane had seen them. But
when help didn't come they knew the truth - no one knew where
they were.
The Medical students Canessa and Zerbino made checks on the
wounded; Susana Parrado was growing worse, she most likely
had internal damage that they could do nothing about on the
mountain, her brother Nando was still unconscious but he seemed
to be doing well with Diego Storm's care; Echavarren's and
Nogueira's legs were growing infected. Later, hammocks were
built using luggage webbing and poles that were stowed in
the luggage compartment, the injured could sleep more soundly
in the hammocks with out being disturbed. The other boys who
had injured legs were managing far better. Enrique Platero,
whose stomach wound concerned Zerbino, was hardly affected
by his injury.
One of the survivors Fito Strauch, invented a water making
device out of the aluminum backing of a seat. When bent into
a spout, filled with snow and braced against a couple suitcases,
the sun would melt the snow, and the water would stream into
a bottle that was placed at the bottom of the spout, they
made several of these and soon had several bottles of water
stocked.
The oldest survivors among them, Javier and Lilliana Methol,
36 and 34 respectivly, were fairing well. Although uninjured
Javier was suffering from the altitude and was constantly
disoriented and slow. Liliana, his wife of 12 years, was occupied
with caring for him, as well as being somewhat of a substitute
mother figure to the younger boys.
On the 3rd day on the mountain that Nando Parrado regained
consciousness, and immediately began to care for his sister,
though he himself was still weak from his injury. Sadly, on
the 8th night on the mountain Susana died in Nando's arms.
In the morning her body was placed near her mother in "the
cemetery", an area a few yards from the fuselauge where
the bodies had been laid out.
The only food they were left with was some chocolate, nougat,
crackers and jam. In addition they had some large bottles
of wine and brandy that the pilots had bought in Mendoza.
This was not much for 26 survivors. This food was rationed
as best as possible - One deodorant cap of wine, one chocolate
piece for everyone at a meal time - but it was clear it would
not last and that they would not be rescued soon. If they
couldn't find another source of food they would all die.
The survivors were
left with a grim decision, they knew that the only way to
survive was to eat the flesh of their dead friends.
One survivor, Pedro Algorta, thought of it as communion, from
their friends' deaths, the others would live. Canessa, who
was one of the first to mention the idea, went out into the
snow to one of the bodies and using a shard of glass cut from
it several slivers of flesh.
One by one most of the survivors took a piece and forced
it down their throats. Some, including Coche Inciarte, and
the Methols refused to eat it, so they were given the rest
of the dwindling chocolate; it wasn't long before this ran
out and these few who had refused reluctantly ate as well.
There were 10 bodies in the cemetery, three of whom were agreed
not to be used unless there was no other option (Parrado's
mother and sister and Methol's nephew) the meat was rationed
as the chocolate had been. The Strauch cousins were placed
in charge of rationing and preparation. With the introduction
of proteins to their bodies the survivors grew stronger and
were able to focus on how they would get out of the mountains.
On the 17th night
on the mountain, an avalanche swept down the valley and covered
the wreckage of the fuselage. The snow tore through the makeshift
wall at the back of the fuselage and covered survivors, all
except four:
Echavarren, Nogueira, and Vizintin were sleeping in the
hammocks, and Harley was awakened and stood up before the
snow had swept over them, Harley and Vizintin dug for their
friends, Echavarren and Nogueira were too shocked to move.
Nineteen of the survivors made it through the avalanche but
eight had died under the snow:
· Daniel Maspons
· Juan Carlos Menéndez
· Liliana Methol
· Gustavo Nicolich
· Marcelo Pérez
· Enrique Platero
· Carlos Roque, the mechanic
· Diego Storm
Roque had been uncovered showing a flicker of life, a few
survivors kept breathing for him for what seemed like hours,
but they could not revive him. An hour later, a second avalanche
swept over the wreck, but because the entrance was already
blocked with snow from the first one, the second simply passed
over and the plane was now completely buried.
With little room in the cabin, they spent
that night trying to keep from freezing, since their blankets
and shoes were now lost under the snow. At first sign of day,
a group began to burrow through the snow at the front of the
fuselage and into the pilots cabin and to the window, which
faced the sky because of the tilt of the plane, the window
was pushed up through the layer of snow covering it and up
to the surface.
Roy Harley poked his head through the hole, and discovered
a snow storm had set upon the crash site. For 3 days they
sat inside the tomb the avalanche had created. On November
1st the snow stopped and they set about digging out. In a
couple days they had managed to make a tunnel out the rear
of the fuselage to the surface, and through this tunnel they
brought out most of the snow from the cabin, and the bodies
of their friends who had died.
On the 62nd day, Nando Parrado, Roberto Canessa, and Antonio
Vizintin, set out to the west, where they suspected they would
find Chile, they brought with them a sleeping bag made from
the planes insulation and a ration of food, for this expedition,
they would have to climb the high mountains, something they
were ill prepared to do. When the sun would start to disappear
behind the mountains around dusk, they would stop and setup
camp, they slept in the giant sleeping back that kept them
warm through the night.
After 3 days of climbing Nando saw that their food was dwindling
and they still had farther to climb, they decided to send
Vizintin back to the Fairchild and take his remaining ration
of food. Using his seat cushion snow shoes as a sled he slid
down the mountain, Vizintin made it back in two hours, it
had taken 3 days for Canessa, Nando and himself to climb that
far. After day 4, the climb was more or less a descent, and
after 4 more days of climbing down the mountain, they found
green fields at the edge of the snow, a river split through
the fields, and beyond that, they saw a rancher, tending his
cattle.
The rancher was Sergio Catalan, and he saw the disheveled
men running around on the other side of the roaring river,
at first he thought they were tourists. They screamed for
help, the noise of the river almost covering their cries,
but Catalan called to them "Tomorrow!" and rode
off. They knew that they'd been found they setup camp for
the night and in the morning they found the rancher standing
on the other side of the river. Catalan threw over a rock
with a piece of paper wrapped around it read: Sergio Catalan
There is a man coming later that I told him to go. Tell me
what you need. Parrado, in turn, wrote back. He wrapped the
paper around the rock again and threw it back over the river.
Catalan picked it up and read the note:I come from a plane
that fell in the mountains I am Uruguayan. We have been walking
for ten days. I have a friend up there who is injured. In
the plane there are still fourteen injured people. We have
to get out of here quickly and we don't know how. We don't
have any food. We are weak. When are you going to come and
fetch us. Please. We can't even walk. Where are we? S. O.
S. Catalan pulled a piece of bread from his pocket and threw
it over the river to the boys. which they ate promptly.
Three hours later, another man on horseback, Armando Serda
came riding up, but he was on their side of the river, he
brought with him some cheese which he gave to the hungry boys.
Serda left to tend to his cattle, but came back an hour later
to take Canessa and Nando back to his hut. He informed them
that Sergio Catalan, the first man who found them, had gone
to inform the authorities of this discovery. Once at the hut
they were fed and given comfortable beds. It was December
21, 70 days since they had crashed, 10 since they left the
wreck of the Fairchild, and now, they were saved.
On the morning of the 22nd, Fernandez and Edvardo listened
to a Montevideo radio news station, as they did most mornings
since Canessa and Parrado left, when they heard that Nando
and Canessa had been found. Thinking it was a mistake, they
tuned it to different stations and heard the same. The boys
tried to tidy up the plane and themselves; the thought of
burying the remains of their friends crossed their minds,
but the surface of the snow was ice hard. They began to put
on the best and cleanest clothes they could find, combed their
hair, brushed their teeth, and tried to wash up.
At around 1:00 that afternoon they heard the helicopters
flying towards them, rushing outside, they saw two coming
over the tops of the mountains. The first helicopter hovered
inches from the snow, the door opened and a pack was thrown
out, then a man jumped out, he was an Andinist, Sergio Diaz.
Diaz was embraced by the survivors. Inciarte was helped to
the open door, and was helped aboard by Parrado, who'd come
along to guide the rescuers to the crash site; Mangino hobbled
on his broken leg and scrambled aboard the first helicopter.
With Inciarte, Mangino, and Parrado, the pilot, Maj. Carlos
Garcia, had a full capacity and lifted off. The second helicoptor,
piloted by Maj. Jorge Massa, took its place, it dropped two
more andinists, Claudio Lucero, and Osvaldo Villagas, and
a medical orderly, Jose Bravo. Algorta, Eduardo Strauch, Peaz
and Fernandez clambered aboard. With this full load the second
helicopter lifted away, leaving the last eight of the survivors
behind with the three andinists and the medical orderly.
It only took 15 minutes to reach the landing spot on the other
side of the mountains, the boys jumped from the helicopter,
and were met by Canessa, they embraced each other and rolled
around in the grass. The 8 were air lifted to a hospital in
San Fernando, where they would be examined, for these 6 newly
rescued survivors their battle was over, they had survived
71 days on the mountain. But 8 were left behind on the mountain,
and the weather conditions forced the rescue to be postponed
until the next morning, which meant one more night on the
mountain for them. They chatted with the Andinists who were
left behind, and more, they had brought food with them. The
boys ate the food and drank tea and lemon juice.
The Andinists set up a tent outside the plane, they were
invited to sleep in the hulk of the Fairchild, but the smell
was unfriendly to their noses, but they talked Diaz into joining
them. The next morning, the 23rd, they were treated to a good
breakfast and then prepared for the next helicopters. Around
10:00 three appeared above the mountains. The first lowered
and took 3 survivors. It lifted and a second came down it
too took 3 more survivors, the third came down and took the
last 2, including Zerbino and his suitcase filled with the
personal property of those who had died on the mountain. The
first helicopter returned to pick up the 4 andinists. The
rest of the survivors were airlifted to a medical base, from
there they were airlifted yet again to a hospital in Santiago.
That same day in San Fernando, a press conference was held,
the survivors were in attendance, all except Mangino and Inciarte
who were still too weak to be out of bed. After a mass in
the hospitals chapel, all 8 survivors left for Santiago, Mangino
and Inciarte in ambulance, the others in their family cars.
The 8 already in Santiago were examined and all but Methol
and Harley were released to the Sheraton hotel, where a Christmas/homecoming
celebration was planned. Mangino and Inciarte joined Harley
and Methol in the Santiago hospital ward, they would be released
the next day, the 24th, just in time for Christmas at the
Sheraton.
After the survivors had left the crash site there remained
the task of recovering the remains of the 29 who died on the
mountain. In an ordinary case the SAR would have remained
at the site collecting bodies and delivering them to Santiago
for inspection and release to next of kin. This, however,
was not an ordinary case. While there were 14 intact bodies,
only scant, unidentifiable pieces remained of the other 15.
The rescue climbers decided to leave the remains on the mountain
and await orders from a higher authority. After conferring
with victims' families and considering the options, it was
decided that all the remains would be buried in the mountains.
It was thought that this way the families of the dead would
be saved the further trauma of discovering that all that their
loved one had been used for food.
On January 18, 1973, a ten man team from the Andean Rescue
Corps, along with representatives of the SAR and Uruguayan
Air Force, and a catholic priest went to the crash site in
the mountains by helicopter. Over a course of two days the
bodies and remains from around the fuselage and up the mountain
were gathered, placed in plastic body bags, and moved to a
shallow grave almost half a mile from the spot where the fuselage
came to rest. The grave was covered over with rocks and an
iron cross was erected. Inscribed on the cross:
The world to it's Uruguayan brothers-1972
Nearer My God To Thee
The wreckage of the fuselage was set afire, fueled by gasoline
that had been doused throughout it. The fire had done it's
job, leaving behind the charred frame of the fuselage. The
team was air lifted from the site on January 20.
The following is a list of passengers and crew who were aboard
the plane at the time of the crash. Those who survived the
72 days on the mountain are in italics. Click on a name for
a brief profile of that individual.
FLIGHT CREW
Col. Julio César Ferradas - pilot
Lt. Col. Dante Hector Lagurara - co-pilot
Lt. Ramon Martínez - navigator
Cpl. Carlos Roque - mechanic
Cpl. Ovidio Joaquin Ramírez - steward
THE RUGBY TEAM
Francisco Abal "Panchito"
Roberto Canessa "Muscles"
Gaston Costemalle
Roy Harley
Alexis Hounié
Guido Magri
Julio Martínez-Lamas
Daniel Maspons
Gustavo Nicolich
Arturo Nogueira
Fernando Parrado "Nando"
Marcelo Perez - Team Captain
Enrique Platero
Daniel Shaw
Antonio Vizintín "Tintin"
Gustavo Zerbino
Rugby Staff and Fans
Jose Pedro Algorta
Alfredo Delgado "Pancho"
Rafael Echavarren
Daniel Fernández
Roberto Francois "Bobby"
Jose Luis Inciarte "Coche"
Alvaro Mangino
Graziela Mariani
Felipe Maquirriain
Juan Carlos Menéndez
Javier Methol
Liliana Methol
Dr. Francisco Nicola
Esther Nicola
Carlos Páez "Carlitos"
Eugenia Parrado
Susana Parrado
Ramán Sabella "Moncho"
Adolfo Strauch "Fito"
Eduardo Strauch
Diego Storm
Numa Turcatti
Carlos Valeta
Fernando Vázquez
EXPEDITIONS
DATE CLIMBERS PURPOSE STATUS
October 17 Canessa, Páez,
Fito Strauch, Turcatti To find the tail; climbing up the mountain
to the southeast Failed; nothing was found.
October 24 Maspons, Turcatti, Zerbino.
To find the tail; up the mountain to the southeast Found wreckage
of the wings, engines, and other pieces of the Fairchild;
in addition 6 bodies were found. The tail was nowhere to be
seen
? Francois, Inciarte Trial expedition; up the mountain to
the southeast They climbed 300 feet up the mountain and returned
? Algorta, Turcatti Trial expedition; up the mountain to the
southeast They climbed as far as the wing, and returned.
November 5 Harley, Páez, Vizintin
Trial expedition; down the valley to the east. Found pieces
of the tail, and galley.
November 17 Canessa, Parrado, Vizintin
To find the tail; down the valley to the east. Found the tail;
the batteries were to heavy to bring down, so they returned
to get Harley and the radio.
November 24 Canessa, Harley, Parrado,
Vizintin Return to the tail to hook up the radio The radio
did not work
December 11 Canessa, Parrado, Vizintin
To climb the mountains to the west into Chile. Vizintin was
sent back to the plane on Dec. 15. Succeded; Canessa and Parrado
reached help on December 21
December 13 Fito Strauch, Zerbino
To find bodies up the mountain for food Found one body, which
turned out to be Daniel Shaw, Fito's cousin, they brought
it down the mountain but agreed not to use it
December 14 Algorta, Páez
To find another body up the mountain. Found one, but it was
getting late in the day and so they returned to the plane
and went back up the next day with Fito and took some meat
back to the plane. They returned to this body on last time
the morning after and took what was left of the meat down
to the plane.
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