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1972 Andes Plane Disaster

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N

noal

Banned
'For solid food they had eight bars of chocolate, five bars of nougat, some caramels that had been scattered over the floor of the cabin, some dates and dried plums, also scattered, a packet of salted biscuits, two tins of mussels, one tin of salted almonds, and a small jar each of peach, apple and blackberry jam.

This was not a lot of food for twenty eight people'...



I'm sure a lot of people have heard of the film 'Alive'. I remember watching it in the late 90's and enjoying it, although not really giving it any more thought. Recently, I watched it again and I immediately wanted to find out more. I purchased the book of the same name that was written not long after the crash, and authorised by the survivors, and was totally taken aback by the struggle which these young men had to go through; many aged 20-24.

The book doesn't hold back about the many problems they encountered, the infighting, weather and the kick in the arse that was the avalanche.

I feel like I could speak for hours about this but I feel that if this thread means you are suddenly interested in the subject then I would almost be spoiling the many dramas that befell the passengers of that fateful Fairchild flight to Chile.

The Film
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alive-DVD-Ethan-Hawke/dp/B000059H2A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414521165&sr=8-1&keywords=alive

The Book
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alive-There-Was-Only-Survive/dp/0099574527/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1414521165&sr=8-2&keywords=alive

The book by Nando Parrado; a survivor.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Miracle-Andes-Days-Mountain-Long/dp/0752881345/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1414521387&sr=1-1&keywords=miracle+in+the+andes

History Channel Documentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5Mpm5nYxls

There is also a documentary film called 'Stranded I've come from a plane that crashed in the mountains' which used to to be on YouTube but I am unable to find it now. It can be purchased and there are trailers on YouTube.

Film Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly7DC2f8S6s

I suppose the point of this thread is to ask if anybody else has heard of the disaster? Did you see the film, maybe followed it up and read the book/ looked up on Wikipedia?

How would you cope with being stuck on that mountain for 71 days or attempting Nando and Roberto's final journey through the Andes?
 
E

ElectricBlanketFire

Member
"Pass me a hunk of co-pilot."

simpsons_fearofflying.png
 
M

Mr Swine

Banned
My moms used to talk about this when I was smaller, I think I remember her talki g about a cousin that was on the plane, I don't remember if he made it or not. Need to ask her again
 
X

X05

Upside, inside out he's livin la vida loca, He'll push and pull you down, livin la vida loca
I'm Uruguayan, so yes I have heard about it, many times over.
 
N

noal

Banned
X05 said:
I'm Uruguayan, so yes I have heard about it, many times over.
Click to expand...

I kind of feel like this story will become forgotten around the world due to the time passed after the events and the film.

I made this thread, my first, to try and pass on this incredible story of bravery and the human will to people who may not have heard about it.

I suppose you are sick of hearing it!
 
E

El Topo

Member
The story of their survival is truly interesting. Imagine how the three guys that left the camp to find help must have felt when they climbed that mountain, only to see initially nothing but more mountains.
 
B

Blablurn

Member
El Chupacabra said:
The story of their survival is truly interesting. Imagine how the three guys that left the camp to find help must have felt when they climbed that mountain, only to see nothing but more mountains (with a tiny green strip far away).
Click to expand...

The more I think about it the more I struggle to grasp the tension they went through. Man, must have been rough.
 
L

Leunam

Member
OP, are you looking for more disaster survival stories? If so, I recommend Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. It's about the 1996 Mt. Everest disaster.
 
N

noal

Banned
El Chupacabra said:
The story of their survival is truly interesting. Imagine how the three guys that left the camp to find help must have felt when they climbed that mountain, only to see initially nothing but more mountains.
Click to expand...

Snitch said:
The more I think about it the more I struggle to grasp the tension they went through. Man, must have been rough.
Click to expand...

I think most people would have returned to the plane beaten. The courage to continue on was just amazing. Its no wonder Nando has done so well with his motivational speeches; I would love to attend one sometime.
 
K

King_Moc

Banned
Snitch said:
The more I think about it the more I struggle to grasp the tension they went through. Man, must have been rough.
Click to expand...

Reaching that point where eating a human becomes something that you'd actually be willing to do. Doesn't really bear thinking about, tbh. I suppose i'd rather do that than die.
 
B

Broder Salsa

Banned
This is really interesting. There's this radio show here, where people come on and get 8 minutes to talk about whatever they want. I think I'm picking this disaster to go and talk about on there. Thank you father Noal.
 
K

kick51

Banned
They had a trailer for Alive before Toys with Robin Williams. It has the guy saying "Aren't we flying a little close to that mountain" and then shows the plane crash and maybe something about them eating people. All throughout Toys, little kid me was scared shitless thinking about that trailer lol

I don't know how that trailer got cleared for that movie.
 
N

Neuromancer

Member
I've read the book and seen the movie (featuring a young Ethan Hawke.) It's an amazing story of survival, highly recommend the book especially.
 
A

anarckitty

Member
Fantastic movie. I loved the character that had a birthday everyday.

I'm not sure I could read the book though. As much as I enjoyed the movie, it was really hard to watch.
 
N

ntropy

Member
Very first movie I saw in the cinema.

I remember one funny line: "If you eat me, promise me you'll finish your plate"
 
N

noal

Banned
anarckitty said:
Fantastic movie. I loved the character that had a birthday everyday.

I'm not sure I could read the book though. As much as I enjoyed the movie, it was really hard to watch.
Click to expand...

The book does go into a lot more detail.

I found the notion of putting a stick up your bottom to loosen the shit out because their diet was so poor to be either funny or incredibly sad.
 
A

anarckitty

Member
noal said:
The book does go into a lot more detail.

I found the notion of putting a stick up your bottom to loosen the shit out because their diet was so poor to be either funny or incredibly sad.
Click to expand...

Yeah. I think I'll pass on reading the book. It's a story that deserves to be told no doubt, but I think it would be too painful. I find war movies (ones based on real events) to be equally hard to watch.
 
O

Opus Angelorum

Member
Incredible courage, especially when they heard over a radio that the search had been cancelled after the 11th day. They held on for another two months.
 
E

El Odio

Banned
I think I saw that history channel special on this. The people who stayed back in the plane used the luggage to build a wall to block the cold right?
 
N

noal

Banned
El Odio said:
I think I saw that history channel special on this. The people who stayed back in the plane used the luggage to build a wall to block the cold right?
Click to expand...

Yeah. That had to take part of it down everyday to get out and then rebuild it when the sun went down to keep out the worst of the weather.
 
S

sphinx

the piano man
the initial scene is very impressive, specially for a movie of the early 90's. or maybe I was too young but my heart was pumping the whole sequence, it looked terrifying as fuck.

I also didn't like that the movie
switches heroes at the middle of the story, first is this guy who tells everybody to cheer up and fight, then he dies and Ethan Hawke takes on the lead after being in comma for half the movie and proceed to save the day, it was weird, uncommon in a typical hollywood movie
 
G

Gozer the Gozerian

Member
Wow, that's fascinating. This story sound vaguely familiar like I have heard mention of it in the past but I had no idea about it beyond that.

Just a month ago in late winter/early spring I made the land border crossing between Mendoza and Santiago that winds up through the snowy Andes not far from where this happened, I can't imagine trying to survive in that climate for that long. The views up there were absolutely incredible though.
 
N

noal

Banned
Smokey said:
So....exactly what parts of the other passengers gets did they eat :x
Click to expand...

Pretty much everything. They realised that the diet of just 'meat' as they called it wouldn't be sufficient so they started eating internal organs. They also cracked open a couple of skulls to try and vary their diet more.

If I remember rightly they also tried to get inside the bones by scrapping away at them.

A lot of the passengers had a hard time coming to terms with eating the meat and held out for as long as they could but, in the end, it was literally a matter of life and death.
 
N

noal

Banned
sphinx said:
the initial scene is very impressive, specially for a movie of the early 90's. or maybe I was too young but my heart was pumping the whole sequence, it looked terrifying as fuck.

I also didn't like that the movie
switches heroes at the middle of the story, first is this guy who tells everybody to cheer up and fight, then he dies and Ethan Hawke takes on the lead after being in comma for half the movie and proceed to save the day, it was weird, uncommon in a typical hollywood movie
Click to expand...

The Ethan Hawke character is Nando Parrado who's book is linked in the OP. His mother and sister died in the crash and Nando knew that the time would come where he would have to eat them to survive.

He was very vocal about attempting to escape the mountains as soon as possible but Roberto Canessa urged caution as the area was still in the grip of winter. They did eventually set off when the weather was better which turned out to be a very wise decision.

Edit: oops, sorry for DP.
 
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