URUGUAY PLANE CRASH SURVIVE IN 72 DAYS IN 1972

 

URUGUAY AIR CRASH SURVIVE IN 72 DAYS

     

           Uruguay air crash airforce flight 571

 Accident date:- 13 October,1972  to 23 December,1972

                            

    Uruguay is a south American country known for its verdant interior and beach-lined coast.Its capital is Montevideo.Population is 34.6 lakh or 3.51 million.Official language is Spanish.It share borders with Argentina to its west and south west & Brazil to its north and northest.

  Member of the amateur old christions club rugby union team from Montevideo,Uruguay were scheduled to play a match against the old boys club,an English rugby team in Santiago,Chile.Club president Daniel juan chartered Uruguayan airforce twin turboprop Fairchild FH-227D to fly the team over the andes to Santiago.The aircraft carried 40 passangers & 5 crew members.There were 10 extra seats and the team members invited a few friends & family members to accompany them.The aircraft departed Carrasco international airport on 12 October,1972 , but a strom front over the andes forced them to stop overnight in Mendoza,Argentina.The weather on 13 October also affected the flight.The pilot waited and took off at 2.18 pm on Friday 13 October from Mendoza.

         The Fairchild was not built to fly  higher than approximately 22,500 feet,so the pilots  plotted a course south to the pass of planchon ,where the aircraft could safely clear the andes at approximately 3.30pm on October 13 the aircraft struck a mountain, losing its right wing and then its left wing before crashing into a remote valley of Argentina near the Chilean border.Rescue efforts shifted to the Andes ,and the survivors later reported spotting several planes.However,the snow covered mountains made detection of the white plane difficult.After eight days,the search was called off,though later rescue efforts were undertaken by family members.

  The crash initially killed 12 people,leaving 33 survivors,a number of whom were injured.The group faced snow and freezing tempretures.The news of the missing flight reached Uruguayan media about 6.00 pm that evening.On the second day,11 aircraft from Argentina,Chile and Uruguay searched for the down flight.The search area included their location and a few aircraft flew near the crash site.The survivors tried to use lipstick recovered from the language to write on SOS on the roof of the aircraft,but they quit after realizing that they lacked enough lipstick to make letters visible from air .They  saw three aircraft fly overhead, but were unable to attack their attention & none of the air crafted crews spotted the white fuselage against the snow.

           

  During the first night, five more people died.The passengers removed the broken seats and other debris from the aircraft and fashioned a crude shelter.To try to keep out some of the cold, they used luggage, seats & snow to close off the open end of the fuselage.They improvised in other ways.The solar collector melted snow which dripped into empty wine bottels.To prevent snow blindness , he improvised sunglasses using the sun visors in the pilot’s cabin, wire and a bra strap. They removed the seat covers, which were partially made of wool, to use against the cold.

       The survivors found a small transistor radio jammed between seats on the aircrafted and poy hearley improvised a very long antenna using electrical cable from the plane. He heard the news that the search was cancelled on their 11^th day on the mountain.

    The survivors had extremely little food eight chocolate bars, a tin of mussels, three small jars of jam, a tin of almonds, a few dates, candies, dried plums & several bottles of wine.During the days following the crash, they divided  this into very small amounts to make their meager supply last as long as possible. The food ran out after a week and the group tried to eat parts of the airplane like the cotton inside the seats and leather. They got sicker from eating these. With no choice, the survivors ate the bodies of their dead friends.

       

       Survivor Robero canessa described the decision to eat the pilots and their dead friends and family members. After just a few days, we were feeling the sensation of our own bodies consuming themselves just to remain alive.The group survived by collectively deciding to eat flesh from the bodies to their dead comrades. The decision was not taken lightly, as most of the dead were classmates, close friends & relatives. Canessa used broken glass from the aircraft wind shield as a cutting toll. He set the example by swallowing the first matchstick sized strip of frozen flesh. Later on, several others did the same. Parrado protected the corpses of his sister & mother, and they were never eaten. They dried the meat in the sun, which made it more palatable. They were initially so revolted by the experience that they could eat only skin, muscle & fat. When the supply of flesh was diminished, they also ate hearts, lungs and even brains.

       Parrado & Canessa hiked for several more days. First they were able to reach the narrow valley that Parrado had seen on the top of the mountain. They followed the river and reached the snowline.

  

              Gradually, there app eared more and more signs of human presence. As the man gathered  wood to built a fire, one of them saw three men on horse back at the other  side of the river. One of  the men across the river saw Parrado and Canessa and should back “TOMORROW”. The next day, the man returned. He scribbled a note, attached it and a pencil to a rock with some string and threw the message across the river.Parrado replied:-

        “  I come from a plane that fell in the mountains. I am Uruguayan.We have been walking for 10 days. I have a wounded friend up there. In the plane there are still 14 injured people. We have to get out from here quickly and we don’t know how. We don’t have any food. We are weak. When are you going to come to fetch us ? please, we cannot even walk.where are we?”

          Sergio Catalan, a chilen arriero,read the note & gave them a sign that he understood. The arrieros could not imagine that anyone could still be alive. Catalan threw bread to the men across the river. They inform the letter to the police station at Puente negro.

         They relayed news of the survivors to the army command in San Fernando, Chile.

   When the news broke out that people had survived the crash of Uruguayn airforce flight 571, the story of passenger’s  survival after 72 days drew international attention.

        The Chilean airforce provided three bell UH-1 helicopters to assist with the rescue. When the fog lifted at about noon, Parrado volunteered to lead the helicopters to the crash site.

    On the after noon of 22 December,1972, the two helicopters carrying search and rescue personnel reached the survivors. The survivors slept a final night in the fuselage with the search & rescue party. The last remaining survivors were rescued on 23 December,1972 more than two months after the crash.

     The survivors held a press conference on 28 December at stella maris college in Montevideo, where they recounted the events of the past 72 days.

Thank you

Best wishes from

Suvendu Singha.