Harrowing true story of plane crash victims that turned to cannibalism when they ran out of food
Over 50 years ago a plane with 45 people on board crashed into a mountain range in the Andes, and it would be 72 days before the last of the survivors was rescued from the perilous situation.
Their ordeal became world famous, with films and documentaries using the true story of their survival as inspiration including recent Netflix film Society of the Snow.
One of the primary fascinations people had with their astonishing story of survival was how the group was forced to turn to cannibalism to survive.
With food supplies on board the plane scarcely able to last a week, the crash survivors came to an agreement with each other that should one of them die then the others had their permission to eat them.
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This difficult decision taken in the most extraordinary circumstances meant those who survived the crash and harsh conditions were able to last until rescue.
13 October - The crash
Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 carried five crew members and 40 passengers, including 19 members of the Old Christians Club rugby team when it crashed into the Andes between the border of Chile and Argentina.
The plane's co-pilot had got lost and did not realise he was heading towards a mountain until it was too late, with the aircraft losing its tail cone and both wings in the impact with the mountain ridge.
As the aircraft fell apart several people on board fell out of it to their deaths, while the pilot died upon impact and a total of 12 lost their lives in the initial chaos.
A further five died during the first night, including the co-pilot, and the survivors used debris from the plane to turn the fuselage into a shelter from the elements.
Worryingly, they quickly realised that the food supplies on the plane, much of it confectionery, would only last them around a week.
21 October - Search efforts called off
An extensive search had been launched for the plane crash victims, but the white fuselage of the aircraft blended in well with the snowy mountains of the Andes and they were not spotted.
The survivors could see planes overhead searching for them but had no way to signal their presence and after over a week of searching further attempts were called off.
It was around this time that the food supplies on board the plane were running out, with survivors trying to eat the leather seat belts and the cotton stuffing in the plane's chairs.
However, this made them sick and they were faced with a terrible decision to make if they wished to stave off starvation, cannibalism.
The group discussed the matter and promised each other that if they died the rest of them could eat their body to fend off starving to death.
Ramon Sabella, a survivor of the crash, later said it made them feel 'repugnant' but it was that or starvation while fellow survivor Roberto Canessa explained he would have seen it as an 'honour' if he'd died and his friends used is body to survive.
Carlos ‘Carlitos’ Páez Rodriguez told LADbible: "The first person I heard say it out loud was Nando Parrado when I told him there was nothing left in the food store.
"And he said, ‘Carlitos, I’d eat the pilot.’ Which was a very natural thing for him to say because he’d lost his mother and his sister in the crash, so consciously or not, he had something against the pilot.
"And what’s more, we didn’t know the crew. All the others were our friends."
29 October - The avalanche
By this date the number of survivors had dwindled to 27, and then a further eight died when an avalanche swept over the shelter they'd fashioned out of the plane's fuselage.
Snow filled up their makeshift shelter and killed eight of those who'd survived the plane crash, and for three days those who still lived were stuck there with the bodies of those the avalanche had killed.
Eventually conditions improved to the point that the snows around the plane cleared.
Knowing they couldn't last on the mountain indefinitely and having heard over the plane's radio that the search had been called off, with Carlitos explaining they learned this on day 10, the survivors knew they'd have to find their own way off the mountain.
15 November - Finding the tail section
They'd made short expeditions away from their shelter before, but lack of supplies and the punishing effects of the altitude meant they could never go very far.
Eventually the decision was made that some of the survivors would have to leave to get help, with them being given more food and less to do so they could build up their strength.
This group was able to find the tail section of the plane, which had been torn off the aircraft in the crash, along with food, medicine and batteries which they hoped to use to send a distress signal from the plane's radio.
These batteries were too heavy to carry back to the shelter so the radio was brought to the tail section, but it wasn't compatible with the batteries and they could send no cry for help.
12 December - Search for help
After days of trying to get the radio to work without success the group knew they'd have to find a way off the mountain quickly or their group, now down to 16, wouldn't last much longer.
Needing to provide this group with as great a chance at survival as possible, Carlitos made sleeping bags using sewing skills his mother had taught him.
A trio of survivors set off with three days worth of meat and extra clothes, but no experience of mountain climbing or special equipment.
The sleeping bag Carlitos had made for them kept them alive during the nights and after several days they sent one of their number back to the camp so the other two would have enough food to press onwards.
While they were dismayed at the sight of the Andes mountains all around them the two men, Fernando Parrado and Roberto Canessa, continued on.
20 December - Contact with the world
Climbing down from the mountains and into a valley, Parrado and Canessa started noticing signs of human life including discarded rubbish and then came across cows.
When they settled down for the night on 20 December they spotted three men on horseback on the other side of the river they were camped by, though they struggled to communicate due to the noise of the river.
The men told them they would come back tomorrow and when they returned they threw a rock with a message written on it between them to explain the situation.
Realising what had happened, they threw bread over the river to the exhausted Parrado and Canessa, then a man named Sergio Catalán rode off to get help.
Catalán found another rider and sent them to pick up the two men, while he managed to alert the Chilean police and army that survivors of the plane that had gone missing two months earlier had been found.
22 December - Rescue arrives
The Chilean air force provided helicopters which followed Parrado's directions back up to the plane wreckage and six people were rescued on that first attempt.
It was incredibly difficult for the helicopters to land but the remaining eight survivors were rescued the following day on 23 December, meaning they had spent an incredible 72 days stuck in the Andes.
Topics: World News, History, Netflix, TV and Film
Joe Harker