Andes plane crash survivors recount resorting to cannibalism 50 years later (2024)

FAQs

Did the survivors of the Andes plane crash eat each other? ›

A group of survivors lived through the plane crash, only to face the frigid cold and snow of the mountains, avalanches and, most famously, a lack of food. As they fought for their lives for more than two months, they fed themselves by cannibalizing the bodies of those who had already died.

During the 72 days following the crash, the survivors suffered from extreme hardships, including sub-zero temperatures, exposure, starvation, and an avalanche, which led to the deaths of 13 more passengers. The remaining passengers resorted to eating the flesh of those who died in order to survive.

Of the 16 survivors, 14 are still alive. José Luis “Coche” Inciarte died in 2023 of cancer, per the AFP, as did Javier Methol in 2015. Sergio Catalan, the herdsman who encountered Fernando Parrado and Roberto Canessa after their 10-day trek through the Andes from the crash site, died in 2020 at the age of 91.

While bad weather was a contributing factor, investigations concluded that pilot error led to the crash. 41-year old Dante Héctor Lagurara was a lieutenant colonel in the Uruguayan Air Force, and was co-pilot of the Fairchild 571 aircraft. He was in control of the aircraft at the time of the accident.

An expedition by the Argentine army has recovered human remains and aeroplane parts from the site of a 1947 plane crash high in the Andes mountains. The plane, part of the now-defunct British South American Airways, was carrying 11 people when it crashed into the face of the Tupungato volcano during a snowstorm.

Today, in 2024, only 14 of the 16 survivors are alive. Javier Methol passed away in 2015 due to cancer, surviving almost 43 years after the crash. He was 36 at the time of the accident, the oldest of the survivors. José Luis “Coche” Inciarte, died in 2023, also of cancer.

How accurate is Netflix's Society of the Snow? The Netflix movie is extremely faithful to the true story, apart from some minor differences. For example, the plane didn't fly straight from Montevideo to the mountains where it crashed in real life.

His mother and younger sister, Susana, were killed in the accident. Nando made a superhuman effort, survived for 72 days, and found his way out of the Andes, after an 10-day snowy trek through the mountains with his friend Roberto Canessa.

In 1972, a plane carrying a Uruguayan rugby team crashed into the Andes mountains, forcing the survivors to endure freezing temperatures, avalanches, starvation and, eventually, eat the dead among them.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — When Gustavo Zerbino watched “La Sociedad de la Nieve,” the 1972 plane crash survivor felt as if he was being submerged “into boiling water,” reliving the roughly 70 days he and his teammates were stranded in the snow-covered Andes mountains.

Is the Andes plane wreckage still there? ›

“What remains of the plane is still in a place where, in general, there is snow. It is at least 10 metres below where it was during the 72 days that the survivors were sheltered,” says Moraga.

The place where the plane crashed was not strategically visible, so it would have been pointless to try to make a fire. Furthermore, they didn't have enough flammable objects to cause such a big fire, which is why the lighter was used for cigarettes but never a signal fire.

As he detailed in his 2016 book, I Had to Survive: How a Plane Crash in the Andes Inspired My Calling to Save Lives, Canessa and the other survivors resorted to eating the victims who had died to survive.

The survivors' initial note began, “I come from a plane that fell in the mountains.” The authorities were notified, and on December 22 two helicopters were sent to the wreckage. Six survivors were flown to safety, but bad weather delayed the eight others from being rescued until the next day.

Alive tells the story of an Uruguayan rugby team (who were alumni of Stella Maris College), and their friends and family who were involved in the airplane crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571. The plane crashed into the Andes mountains on Friday 13 October 1972.

The smallish plane was carrying 45 passengers; upon rescue 71 days later all but 16 had died, and the survivors wouldn't have lived if they hadn't resorted to cannibalism, and not just strips of flesh and muscle but internal organs (heart, lungs, brains)…horrific but true.