Extreme Survivors: 60 of the World’s Most Extreme Survival Stories. Collins Maps
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to be rescued.
The cruellest twist was that the survivors heard this news on a small transistor radio, which they had salvaged from the plane.
Remarkably, though, one of the men managed to turn this disappointment into a source of hope:
‘Nicolich came out of the plane and, seeing their faces, knew what they had heard… [Nicolich] climbed through the hole in the wall of suitcases and rugby shirts, crouched at the mouth of the dim tunnel, and looked at the mournful faces which were turned towards him. ‘Hey boys,’ he shouted, ‘there’s some good news! We just heard on the radio. They’ve called off the search.’ Inside the crowded plane there was silence. As the hopelessness of their predicament enveloped them, they wept. ‘Why the hell is that good news?’ Paez shouted angrily at Nicolich. ‘Because it means,’ [Nicolich] said, ‘that we’re going to get out of here on our own.’ The courage of this one boy prevented a flood of total despair.’
From Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors by Piers Paul Read.
The horrors of hunger
The survivors salvaged some food from the plane. But the few handfuls of chocolate bars, snacks, and bottles of wine did not provide sustenance for long, even with strict rationing.
A raging hunger soon seized everyone left alive on the mountain. They scoured the snowy slopes for plants but found none. There were no animal tracks or burrows. Their pangs grew so voracious that they scoured the fuselage again and again in search of even the tiniest edible morsels.
In their hunger the passengers tried to consume strips of leather torn from luggage, padding from the seats and pieces of clothing.
But eventually they had to accept the truth that there was only metal, plastic, ice, and rock.
Then they made the hardest choice imaginable. They decided to eat the flesh of those who had died. Most of these were classmates or friends, and the horror of what they were being forced to do only compounded the tragedy of their situation.
Avalanche
As if they weren’t suffering enough, on the morning of 29 October an avalanche suddenly cascaded down the steep rocky slopes above them and engulfed the fuselage as the survivors slept.
They remained entombed in the tiny space for three days until they managed to poke a hole in the roof of the fuselage with a metal pole. By the time they got out, eight more people had died under the snow. Three more were to die in the following weeks.
Hiking out
After they had heard the radio news about the search being called off, many passengers knew that they would have to get themselves out of the mountains if they were to survive. The avalanche expressed that fact even more plainly.
During the flight they had heard the co-pilot announce that they had passed Curicó. That meant that the Chilean countryside ought to be just a few kilometres away to the west. Probably just over the high peak they were on.
Several survivors made brief scouting missions, but their weakened state and the altitude combined to make it gruelling work. There was no way that all of them would be able to walk over and out of the mountains.
Survivors in the wrecked fuselage after rescuers reached them.
The group then decided on a new plan: a few of the fittest men would set out on an expedition to get help. They would be allocated a large ration of food and the warmest clothes, and would be excused other group duties in order to build up their strength for the trek.
‘ ... they would have to get themselves out of the mountains if they were to survive.’
The group chose Nando Parrado, a business student, Roberto Canessa, one of the two medical students and Antonio Vizintín to make the journey.
Canessa had the clearest idea of the trials they would face and he insisted that they wait as long as possible to let the warmer weather of spring get at least a foothold in the mountains. In the end they waited almost seven weeks before setting off.
The reality of their situation
Although their ultimate goal was Chile in the west, the mountain that lay in that direction towered hundreds of metres above them. Climbing it would sap their energy and expose them to great risks. The trekking team therefore decided to start out east in the hope that the valley that they were in would eventually veer round.
Shortly after starting out, the trio found the tail section of the plane, which was still largely intact. It contained luggage with extra clothing, cigarettes and even some snacks. They spent their first night in the tail in relative comfort.
But the following night they had to sleep out in the open, fully exposed to the harsh cold. They very nearly froze to death.
The valley showed no sign of turning in a convenient direction and so the three men returned the next day to the tail with the plan of salvaging some large batteries they had found and using them to power the radio transmitter in the fuselage.
Out of luck
Even this bold idea failed to work. At first the batteries were too heavy for the trio to carry. Then when they brought the radio from the crash site to the tail, they found that the electrical systems were incompatible: the plane used AC, the batteries supplied DC.
Sewing for survival
It was now apparent that the only way out was to climb over the mountains to the west.
They also realized that unless they found a way to survive the freezing nights, they would die attempting the journey.
So the survivors came up with an ingenious solution. They tore out large sections of fabric from clothing, gathered padding from the plane’s upholstery and got to work with a needle and thread from an emergency pack.
Eventually they created a passable sleeping bag. It would fit three men inside, but would carry the lives of all sixteen of the remaining survivors.
Hiking with hope
On 12 December 1972, Parrado, Canessa and Vizintín set out to climb the mountain to the west. It was two months since the crash. As they climbed over the first peak their bodies struggled in the thinning oxygen. It was savagely cold at night, but the homemade sleeping bag kept them alive.
After three days of trekking they met with a major disappointment. Cresting the shoulder of the mountain they expected to see the green countryside of Chile. Instead there was a sea of snow-bound peaks stretching out to the horizon. They were deeper in the mountains than they thought.
They had tens of kilometres of high altitude hiking still to go. After the initial rush of despair the men again found hope, and through that, a positive plan of action. They had further to go, so they must be stricter with their rations. That meant that one man must go back, leaving a greater share of food for the other two.
Vizintín headed back to the crash site, leaving Parrado and Canessa to hike on towards a distant shape that might, just might, be the start of a descending valley.
Vizintín improvised