imagine you and some of your best
buddies are traveling by plane to what
you think will be a weekend to remember
suddenly he'll experience some bad
turbulence but it's nothing you haven't
felt before then it gets worse the plane
drops through the sky luggage falls from
above
you grab holding the seat arm your
knuckles white and as you do so the next
thing you know you're freezing cold
still fastened to your chair and a part
of the plane that broke off you crash
into the earth but miraculously you're
still alive you don't know it yet but
you've landed in one of the most
unforgiving environments known to man
there's nothing but mountains around you
no vegetation no animals nothing you are
at least alive but soon you'll be hungry
it won't be long now until your friend
tells you I'm gonna eat the pilot as
unbelievable as this sounds it's exactly
what happened this is the survivor story
that eclipses all others it's the tale
of heroism and sadness a brutal story
and one we just can't imagine being a
part of let us start from the beginning
it's October 12th 1972 a Thursday
friends who play on the same rugby team
from Montevideo Uruguay are on their way
to a match in Chile there are 45 of them
on board the plane not only the young
strong and fit players but some of the
team's family members as well as some
supporters and five crew members it's
expensive to fly commercially to Chile
so they opted for the cheapest option
which in this case was chartering an
airforce plane what they don't know is
that this american-made fairchild fh 227
d has the nickname of the lead sled
owing to its high weight and relatively
weak engines
they'll also soon find out why it has
such an atrocious safety record all they
know now is it's the cheapest way to fly
over the Andes mountain range to play
what will be a fun game of rugby in
Santiago that first part of the trip is
cut short due to a terrible storm over
the Andes and they're forced to stopover
in Mendoza Argentina there's a direct
route to get them to Santiago from there
but the plane can't fly the 25,000 to
26,000 feet required to get over the
mountains instead they'll take a route
that looks like a u-turn this route will
skip the highest peaks and instead find
a way around fit it's now Friday the
13th and they set off again the
this fear is fun the rugby ball is being
thrown around the plane it's all
laughter in games one of the players
Nando parada gives his window seat up
for his friend so his buddy can get a
better look at the mountains Nando has
no idea that this small gesture will end
up saving his life
not long after the turbulence starts at
first no one takes it seriously but then
someone points out that the mountain
seemed to be very close to the plane
like right outside what they don't know
is the pilot and co-pilot have made a
terrible mistake
they told air-traffic controllers that
they would reach the airport in a minute
they couldn't see much due to the clouds
and they were wrong about that minute
they were actually 11 minutes away they
were still in the mountains and hadn't
reached the safe spot where they could
turn right toward the airport they
descended anyway and were hit by more
turbulence as they were right in the
middle of mountains where the winds were
chaotic the plane was thrown around the
clouds parted and the pilots saw a black
Ridge directly ahead of him the plane
attempted to pull up and accelerates and
now the passengers knew they were in
trouble
the aircraft hit the ridge tearing off
the rear of the plane and sending the
plane hurtling forward they are still
about 13,000 800 feet above sea level
when they likely collided with another
Mountain causing the wings to come off
and leaving just the front part of the
fuselage those at the back of the plane
have been thrown out into the mountain
range some are alive in the plane but
there is no time to think
suddenly what's left of the plane hits a
snow-covered Mountain the fact that even
this much of the plane survived is
incredible but what's even more
incredible is what happens next the
plane begins sliding down the mountain
like a sled but somehow doesn't collide
with any rocky outcrops or boulders
sliding down and down the mountain until
finally it comes to a stop at eleven
thousand seven hundred ten feet above
sea level seats have been uprooted and
bodies have been bashed against the
front of the pilots cabin people are
strewn everywhere but many of the
passengers have somehow survived some
are screaming their limbs twisted parts
of the plane stuck into them but they
are surrounded by glaciers so remote
they don't even have a name no one goes
there and there's little hope of being
found it's freezing cold and it's hard
to breathe because the air is so thin at
this altitude of the survivors those
that are least injured begin to help
less fortunate some have broken bones
some are almost dead from internal
injuries Nando is in a coma and will
remain in one for three days of the 45
passengers aboard the plane twelve of
them died immediately when the plane hit
the mountain or fell out the back of the
destroyed aircraft some bodies are found
still strapped to their chairs covered
in snow and not far from the crash site
the first night is brutally cold
with temperatures getting as low as
negative 22 degrees Fahrenheit the
survivors huddle into the fuselage and
try to block up the holes with suitcases
they all mistakenly think that a rescue
operation will find them and this will
be their only night on the mountain they
could not be more wrong
what they don't realize is that the
planes white coloring means it cannot be
seen from the air five more people died
from their injuries on that first night
Nando in his coma doesn't know that his
mother is dead and his sister is dying
both were only on the flight because
Nana was told he could use the empty
seats for free inviting them would turn
out to be the biggest regret of his life
the next day he injured are attended to
some still screaming because their legs
and arms have been broken in many places
the pilot is dead the copilot who made
the terrible mistake is found crushed
under debris but alive he tells the
survivors that he has a handgun and asks
them to shoot him and put it into his
pain they don't kill him but he dies
soon after but now they need food at
high altitudes in such cold temperatures
the body burns calories extremely fast
in an attempt to stay warm all of the
luggage is searched and while there is
an endless stock of cigarettes and lots
of booze there isn't much food in total
there are eight chocolate bars attentive
muscles three jars of jam a tin of
almonds and some candy and a few bottles
of wine
the survivors immediately make a
rationing plan it's next to nothing for
so many people and they have no idea how
long it needs to last them they have
water at the very least being able to
melt it and funnel into empty wine
bottles days pass and more died on the
tenth day Nando who's now conscious
holds his sister as she dies in his arms
he would later say that he went to sleep
and woke up in hell
and yet it will get worse because they
then heard on a transistor radio they
have found in the wreckage that the
search for them was being called off
they knew they were alone cold and
starving it was at this point of extreme
desperation that nando had told a friend
I'm going to eat the pilot in fact a few
of the survivors had been rolling the
same idea over in their minds one of
them later told the media our common
goal was to survive but will be lacked
was food we had long since run out of
the meager pickings we'd found on the
plane and there was no vegetation or
animal life to be found after just a few
days we were feeling the sensation of
our own bodies consuming themselves just
to remain alive they didn't see it as
cannibalism if they were to survive and
see their families again it was what
they had to do there was no choice eat
your buddies or die there were 27 people
still alive at this point which is a lot
of mouths to feed they started with the
pilots stripping the bodies of all the
possible meat including the organs as
they're starving brains told them eat
more eat everything don't waste a bit on
day 17 disaster struck again in the
middle of the night they heard a noise
what one of them later described as
sounding like wild horses running at
them it was an avalanche snow burst
through the hole in the plane and the
entire fuselage was packed tight those
alive scrambled to dig for air and find
their friends eight more died and the
rest were in the dark buried in snow
with little air to breathe for three
days in time the snow would melt and the
fuselage would begin be sitting on top
of the snow the days passed and they
survived by eating more of the dead they
smoked cigarettes and went out on little
exploratory missions but after just a
few hundred metres they'd be too tired
the snow was too deep and the air too
thin for their weakened state
they were also affected by snow
blindness essentially a Sun burning of
the eyes that comes from the Sun
reflecting off the snow to fight back
against their surroundings they made
makeshift snowshoes and sunglasses so
they could stray farther even then they
were surrounded on all sides by
dangerous crevasses
one of the survivors would later say we
felt like insects trapped in the hugest
forces of nature they were right there's
almost no place on earth where it would
be harder for humans to survive on one
sojourned they found the other part of
the fuselage
side were batteries for the plane radio
as well as some chocolate a little candy
and comic books they stayed there all
night reading the comics by the light of
the fire they had built for a while they
had hoped that they could use the
batteries but it soon became apparent
than hooking up a radio with lots of
wires was not something any of them
possessed to know how to do as nano
later said we were very depressed for
him the only option now was to walk
right out of the mountains they were
aware that Chile was west and remembered
that the pilot had said they weren't far
away from their destination but they had
no way of knowing that they were still
37 miles from the nearest road but that
wouldn't be an easy hike it was 37 miles
of glaciers and rough terrain and they
were far from experienced outdoorsmen
but Nando knew they had to walk over the
mountain range to Chile it was their
only option they decided that they would
stock up on human meat and only the
strongest would go Nando and two others
named Roberto Canessa and Antonio
Byzantine on day 61 when the men set off
only 16 survivors remained alive some
were sick and everyone was malnourished
and beaten by the elements before they
left a man named Carlitos Paz made them
a sleeping bag with parts of the
aircraft insulation sewn together with
copper wire had they not had that they
would have surely frozen to death on
their hike to freedom it took them three
days to climb the first mountain Nando
expected to see green valleys from the
top of that mountain but what he saw
instead were more mountain ranges
byzantine turned back and gave his food
to the others Nando and kanessa both
said we'll die but we'll die trying they
didn't die they walked for days almost
passing out from exhaustion but on day 8
of their walk
they found a river they saw a green
poking through the melting snow and most
importantly they saw a person on the
other side of the river though they were
unable to cross to the other side to
meet him they slept there that night and
the next morning the man came back he
had brought with him a piece of paper in
a pen he tied them to a rock and threw
it across the river Nando wrote on the
paper we are survivors of the plane
crash we have no food we cannot walk
anymore there are more of us in the
mountain where are we and threw it back
the man went to find help himself being
many hours by horseback from
civilization on day 10 Nando and
nessa were finally picked up by the army
their skinny bodies carried out on the
back of horses nano said at that point
he was ready to embrace life again soon
helicopters would take Nando to find his
friends with the pilots asking how they
could have possibly walked over such
terrain without equipment it was amazing
their journey was tracked by
professionals years later and even with
the latest equipment they found it hard
and very very dangerous on day 71 the
first of the team was picked up and on
day 72 if the rest were taken all were
suffering from various ailments but all
of those who have still been alive
eventually recovered and in fact only
one of them is not alive today
once the newspapers had stopped cheering
for the survivors many began to ask just
how they had survived so long without
food it was impossible literally
impossible then a photograph taken by
the rescuers came to light of a human
carcass whose bones had been stripped
the survivors admitted what they had
done and many in the public turned on
them calling them cannibal savages Nando
later said that eating human flesh
wasn't an easy decision it was a last
resort he said he tried to eat strips of
leather torn from pieces of luggage
though we knew that the chemicals
they've been treated with would do us
more harm than good we ripped open seat
cushions hoping to find straw but found
only inedible upholstery foam it was
either feast on dead friends or die in
one survivor that was reluctant to turn
to cannibalism actually did die but 16
of the survivors decided that they would
do whatever it took this day alive and
because of it they made it down off the
mountain with that in mind would you
have done the same tell us in the
comments also be sure to check out our
other video cannibal Island the real
battle royale thanks for watching and as
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