Society of the Snow: A Disaster, A Miracle

The story of "Society of the Snow" is shocking. Today, I would like to fully sort out the 1972 Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 plane crash:

When the crash occurred

Pilot Ferradas had previously flown over the Andes 29 times. During this flight, he was training his co-pilot Lagurara, who was in charge of controlling the aircraft. The plane was four years old and had been in service for 792 hours. The pilots had jokingly referred to it as underpowered.

Due to cloud cover, the pilots couldn't visually confirm their position from the terrain below at an altitude of 5,500 meters. The usual flight time from Planchón Pass to Curicó is 11 minutes, but only three minutes later, the co-pilot radioed Santiago that they were flying over Curicó and turning north. He requested permission to land from air traffic control. The controller authorized the plane to descend to an altitude of 3,500m, but due to lack of radar coverage, did not realize that the plane was still flying over the Andes. Pilot Ferradas also did not notice the navigation error.

The plane encountered severe turbulence during its descent. Nando recalled that the plane rapidly descended hundreds of feet from the clouds. Initially, the rugby players joked about the turbulence until they saw the plane flying abnormally close to the mountains. "That was probably the moment when the pilot saw the black ridge in front of him start to rise rapidly," Roberto recounted. "He began to climb until the plane was almost vertical, started to stall, and shook." The plane's alarm sounded, terrifying all passengers.

The pilot used maximum power to gain altitude and intended to fly over the 4200-meter-high South Mountain Ridge of the icefall cirque. The accounts of witnesses and on-site evidence suggest that the plane hit the mountain two or three times. At 3:34 pm, when the plane's nose flew over the ridge, the right wing was severed, and the tail separated from the fuselage, taking with it two rows of seats, the kitchen, and the luggage compartment, leaving a large hole in the rear. Three passengers, the co-pilot, and flight attendants were randomly missing from the tail section and died on the spot.

The plane continued to climb for the next few seconds, ascending 200 meters until a rock sticking out of the ground at an altitude of 4,400 meters ripped its left wing and the propeller cut through the fuselage. The fuselage crashed onto the snowy ground, sliding down a glacier slope like a high-speed sled at a speed of 350 kilometres per hour before hitting a snowbank and coming to an abrupt stop. The seats were torn off from the floor and hit the front bulkhead of the fuselage. The impact bent the nose of the aircraft, pinning the two pilots against the instrument panel. Pilot Ferradas died instantly, while co-pilot Lagurara, who was also pinned under the instrument panel with Ferradas, passed away the following day. Many people in the crash were seriously injured, but Roberto and Gustavo, both medical students, quickly triaged the wounded and treated those most in need first. However, none of the passengers with compound fractures survived in the end.

The official investigation concluded that the crash was caused by pilot error resulting in a flight into terrain. The wreckage of the aircraft was found in an ice cirque called Valle del Lagarto in Argentina's Malargüe Province, situated at an altitude of 3,570 meters between the 5,169-meter-high Sosneado Mountain and the 4,280-meter-high Tinguriririca Volcano, straddling the remote mountainous border between Chile and Argentina. The plane was located 80 kilometers east of its planned flight path.

Air Rescue Mission Failed

The Chilean Air Rescue Service (SARS) received notice of the missing flight within an hour. Four planes searched throughout the afternoon until nightfall. Uruguayan media learned about the missing flight around 6:00 pm. In the evening, SARS officials listened to radio broadcasts and concluded that the plane must have crashed in one of the most remote and difficult-to-reach areas of the Andes, seeking assistance from the Chilean Andes Mountain Rescue Team (CSA). Neither the passengers on board nor the rescue personnel knew that the flight had crashed in Argentina before entering Chile.

The next day, 11 planes from Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay began searching for the missing flight. The search covered the area of the accident, and several planes even flew over the crash site. Survivors tried to write "help" with lipstick found in their luggage on the top of the fuselage, but there wasn't enough lipstick to write large letters visible from the air by rescue personnel. They also used luggage to shape a cross in the snow, but it failed to attract the attention of rescue personnel. Survivors saw the plane fly over the crash site three times, but rescue personnel could not find the white fuselage in the snow.

Harsh conditions made rescue personnel doubtful about finding survivors, so the search was called off after only eight days. On October 21, 1972, after more than 142 hours of searching, searchers concluded that the chances of anyone surviving the crash were zero and terminated the search. They planned to resume the search for victims in December after the snow melted.

The First Week

28 survivors dismantled broken seats and other debris to transform the fuselage into a makeshift shelter. They used luggage, seats, and snow to seal off the rear end of the fuselage. They used wool seat covers for warmth and cushions as snowshoes. Marcelo Perez, the rugby team captain, took on a leadership role.

Most of the survivors lived by the sea, and some had never even seen snow before the crash. No one had any experience in high-altitude survival. They lacked medical supplies, cold-weather clothing, equipment, and food, and they only brought three pairs of sunglasses. Later, they found a small transistor radio wedged between two seats. Roy Harley improvised a long antenna using wires from the plane. On the eleventh day on the mountain, they received terrible news that their search had been called off.

Cannibalism

The survivors had almost no food. Nando only had a chocolate-covered peanut in three days. Despite strict rationing, the food supply quickly dwindled. There was no natural vegetation, and no animals to consume. When the food ran out, they began eating the cotton plugs from their seats and the leather from their belts and shoes.

The survivors knew that rescue efforts had been called off, so they promised each other that if they died, they could use their own bodies as food. The survivors had no choice but to consume the bodies of their deceased friends and relatives. Roberto Canessa later described the decision to eat the dead:

“The bodies of our friends and teammates, preserved outside in the snow and ice, contained vital, life-giving protein that could help us survive. But could we do it?”

He prayed for guidance, worried he'd be "stealing (the) souls" of those he ate.

"We wondered whether we were going mad even to contemplate such a thing. Had we turned into brute savages? Or was this the only sane thing to do?" he said.

"Truly, we were pushing the limits of our fear."

The First Avalanche

On October 29, close to midnight (17 days after the crash), an avalanche hit the fuselage while the survivors were sleeping. The fuselage was almost filled with snow and ice, resulting in the death of 8 people due to suffocation, including Marcelo Perez, the rugby team captain and leader of the survivors. This was particularly difficult for the remaining survivors to bear.

The avalanche buried the fuselage completely, leaving less than 1 meter of clearance from the ceiling. The trapped survivors quickly realized that they would soon run out of air. They took a metal rod from the luggage rack, used it to pry open a windshield in the cockpit, and poked a hole in the snow to get fresh air. On the morning of October 31, they managed to dig an exit tunnel from the cockpit to the ground, only to be met with a heavy snowstorm that forced them to crawl back into the fuselage. The snowstorm raged for three days, trapping the survivors and the bodies of the deceased inside the snow-covered fuselage. On the third day, they began eating the flesh of their recently deceased friend.

Before the avalanche, some survivors insisted that the only way to survive was to cross the mountains to seek help. Since the co-pilot had repeatedly stated before his death that the plane had flown over Curico, the survivors believed that the nearest Chilean village was just a few kilometres west. What they didn't know was that the plane had crashed deep in the Andes, 89 kilometres away from the nearest Chilean village. As days passed and summer arrived, temperatures rose and the snow covering the fuselage began to melt.

Explore the Surroundings and Call for Help

As summer arrived, some survivors decided to venture out again in search of assistance. On November 15th, they discovered the wreckage of the plane's tail section and a mostly intact kitchen. They also found luggage with food and medicine, and most importantly, they found batteries and communication equipment on the plane.

They decided to take the radio back to the plane's tail section and connect it to the battery. However, what they didn't know was that the aircraft's avionics required an 115-volt AC power supply, while the tail battery only provided a 24-volt DC power supply, so their plan was doomed from the start.

After a few days, the radio still wasn't working, so they gave up and returned to the fuselage. They realized that if they wanted to survive, they had to climb out of the mountains and seek help.

During this time, three people had already died. The remaining survivors knew that if they didn't leave soon and seek help, they would all die. The survivors heard through a transistor radio that the Uruguayan Air Force had resumed searching for them (their bodies).

Set off for Chile and Seek Help

The remaining survivors realized that the only way out was to cross the mountains on the western edge of the cirque, but such a climb was impossible unless they found a way to survive the cold temperatures at night. So they made a sleeping bag using insulation from the back of the fuselage, wires, and waterproof fabric covering the aircraft's air conditioning unit.

With no mountaineering gear, no regional maps, no compass, and no rock climbing experience, the last three survivors began their ascent up the 3,570-meter glacier, aiming to reach the 4,670-meter west ridge of the cirque blocking their westward path. They managed to cross the ridge and then descended, trekking for over ten days in search of help. Given that the pilot had said before his death that they had flown over Curico, they estimated that they were near the western edge of the Andes and therefore only brought enough meat for three days.

When Nando reached the 4,650-meter altitude peak, he believed he would see the green valleys of Chile to the west. However, he was stunned when faced with an endless expanse of snow-covered mountains in every direction. They had climbed a mountain deep in the Andes along the border between Argentina and Chile, which was dozens of kilometres away from the green valleys of Chile. Realizing that the rescue expedition would take longer than they had anticipated, Vizintin suggested returning to base camp to save food for the remaining two, so that they could complete their journey and receive help.

Nando and Canessa took three hours to climb to the top of the mountain. As they reached the summit, Canessa thought to himself, "We're doomed!" He looked around and saw snow-covered mountains in every direction. However, Nando Palado saw two lower peaks near the western horizon without any snow, and a slowly winding valley at the foot of the mountains leading towards those peaks. Palado was convinced that the valley was the way out of the mountains and refused to give up hope. Roberto Canessa agreed to go west with him. It wasn't until much later that Canessa found out that the route he had seen going east would have been an easier path that could have led them to safety faster.

At the top of the mountain, Palado told Canessa, "We may be walking towards death, but I would rather walk to meet it than wait for it to come to me." Roberto Canessa agreed, "Nando, you and I are friends. We've been through so much together. Now let's go together."

Rescued

Nando and Canessa hiked for another 7 days into Chile. They reached the narrow valley they had seen from the mountaintop in Parador, where they found the source of the San Jose River. They continued to descend along the river until they reached the snow line. Gradually, they started to see more and more signs of human life, and finally on the ninth day, a herd of cattle appeared.

Canessa was exhausted, so they rested that night. While they were gathering wood to make a fire, they saw three horsemen across the river. Nando shouted to them, but his voice was drowned out by the rushing water. One of the men on the other side saw them and yelled back, "Tomorrow!" The next day, this man returned with a note written on paper, which he tied to a stone and threw across the river to Nando. He briefly described his situation in writing.

Chilean muleteer Sergio Catalán read the note and gave an understanding gesture. Catalán threw a loaf of bread to the two explorers on the opposite bank, then rode west for ten hours to seek help.

During his journey, Sergio Catalán met another muleteer on the south bank of the Azufre River and asked him to find the two men and bring them to the village. Then, Catalán followed the river to the Termas del Flaco resort. There, he called a truck that took him to the police station in the village, who passed on news of the survivors to the local Chilean Army command post, which in turn contacted the Chilean Army headquarters in Santiago.

Meanwhile, Nando and Canessa arrived at the village where they were given food and rest. They had walked an incredible 61 kilometers in life-threatening conditions within ten days.

The survivors' ordeal caught international media attention after news broke that Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashed and the survivors had been completely on their own for 72 days in the high Andes. A group of international journalists hiked several kilometers to the village where they were recuperating to interview Parador and Canessa.

The Chilean Air Force provided three helicopters to assist with the rescue, and Parador led them to the crash site in Argentina using a flight map. The pilots were amazed that the two had successfully navigated through such complex terrain.

On December 23, 1972, nearly two and a half months after the crash, the last survivor was rescued.

I am deeply moved by their spirit. Their faith in God must have been one of the main driving forces that kept them going for so long and determined to climb out of this icy wilderness on their own. Interestingly, the name of this rugby team is "Old Christians."

Arturo said, "I believe in God, but not that God. That God did not save us. I believe in the meat-cutting Strauch brothers. I believe in Roberto and Gustavo who heal everyone. I believe in Nando who exercises every day."

The book suggests that God made humans in his image, but history shows that humans made gods in their image. In times of need, humans can be elevated to godlike status, and gods are always present in everyone's heart.