"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".
The True Story of "ALIVE"
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
THE RUGBY TEAM |
Rugby Staff and Fans |
EXPEDITIONS
DATE |
CLIMBERS |
PURPOSE |
STATUS |
Oct 17 |
Canessa, Páez, Fito Strauch, Turcatti |
To find the tail; climbing up the mountain to the southeast |
Failed; nothing was found. |
Oct 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. |
Nov 5 |
Harley, Páez, Vizintin |
Trial expedition; down the valley to the east. |
Found pieces of the tail, and galley. |
Nov 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. |
Nov 24 |
Canessa, Harley, Parrado, Vizintin |
Return to the tail to hook up the radio |
The radio did not work |
Dec 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 |
Dec 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 |
Dec 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. |
