10 Facts About the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

10 Facts About the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

The story of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 is among the most amazing instances of survival in recent history. The plane carrying a Uruguayan rugby team and their families crashed in the Andes in 1972, and the survivors were trapped there for 72 days. It was revealed that the survivors’ fight for survival while dealing with hunger, dehydration, and subfreezing temperatures was a horrific tale of survival against all odds. This horrible occurrence has come to symbolize the human spirit of survival in addition to acting as a somber reminder of the dangers involved with flying over hostile territory. Here are 10 interesting and inspiring facts about Flight 571 of the Uruguayan Air Force.

1. Passengers On The flight Included Members of a Uruguayan Rugby Team

Remains of the aircraft that are preserved at the crash site of Flight 571 of the Uruguayan Air Force. Wunabbis, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The wreckage of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, popularly known as Miracle of the Andes or El Milagro de los Andes in Spanish, which crashed on October 13, 1972, in the Andes Mountains of Argentina, was not discovered for more than two months. The flight was chartered by a Uruguayan amateur rugby club.

2. At The Site, Nine Passengers And Three Crew Members Died

Loot and ball at the accident site. Adrito com, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

On board were 45 passengers, including 19 members of the Old Christians Club rugby union team, as well as their friends, family, and supporters. At the site, nine passengers and three crew members died, and many more dead quickly as a result of the bitter cold and the severity of their wounds.

3. The Incident Occurred On October 12, 1972

On October 12, 1972, the aircraft took out from Carrasco International Airport, but a storm front over the Andes forced them to make an overnight halt in Mendoza, Argentina. The FH-227D’s maximum operational ceiling is 28,000 feet (8,500 m), however the high mountains demand an altitude of 25,000 to 26,000 feet (7,600 to 7,900 m), despite the fact that there is a direct route from Mendoza to Santiago 200 kilometers (120 mi) to the west. The FH-227 aircraft was fully laden, thus the pilot would have had to carefully calculate fuel usage and avoid the mountains on this route.

4. The Wreck Was Found In The Rugged Andes Far-Western Argentina

Just east of the Chilean border in the rugged Andes of far-western Argentina, the wreck was situated at an elevation of 3,570 meters (11,710 feet). Authorities searched for the plane by flying over the accident site numerous times in the days that followed, but they were unable to detect the white fuselage against the white snow. After eight days, search activities were called off.

5. The Pilot Had Made 29 Previous Flights With The Same Plane

29 times before, pilot Ferradas had flown over the Andes. He was instructing the co-pilot Lagurara, who was in charge, during this trip. Clouds hid the mountains as they soared across the Andes. The FAU 571 aircraft had 792 airframe hours and was four years old. The aircraft was dubbed the “lead-sled” by some pilots because they believed it to be under-powered.

6. The Survivors Were Forced To Improvise Shelter After The Accident

The passengers made a rough shelter out of the shattered seats and other airplane wreckage. 28 persons squeezed into an area that measured 2.5 by 3 meters (8 ft 2 in. 9 ft 10 in.) in the wrecked fuselage. They closed off the open end of the aircraft with baggage, chairs, and snow in an effort to block off some of the cold. They found various methods to improvise. Fito Strauch discovered a method of obtaining water in icy weather by covering sheet metal from behind the seats with snow. Snow was melted by the solar collector and the drips went into empty wine bottles. He created makeshift sunglasses out of wire, a bra, and the sun visors in the pilot’s cockpit to prevent snow blindness.

7. An avalanche hit The Survivors’ Aircraft As They Slept

Near midnight on October 29, seventeen days after the incident, an avalanche hit the survivors’ aircraft as they slept. Enrique Platero, Liliana Methol, Gustavo Nicolich, Daniel Maspons, Juan Menendez, Diego Storm, Carlos Roque, and Marcelo Perez were among the eight individuals who perished as a result of it filling the fuselage. The loss of both Liliana Methol, who had cared for the survivors “like a mother and a saint” and Perez, the team captain and leader of the survivors, was very demoralizing to those still living.

The interior of the fuselage was entirely filled with the avalanche, which came within one meter (3 feet, three inches) of the ceiling. The imprisoned survivors quickly became aware that they were running low on air. In order to unlock one of the pilot’s cabin windows and create a ventilation hole in the snow, Nando Parrado used a metal rod he had discovered from the baggage racks. On the morning of October 31, they laboriously constructed a tunnel from the cockpit to the surface, but they were forced to remain inside the fuselage by a fierce snowstorm.

8. The Account Of The Passengers’ Survival After 72 days Caught The Interest Of The Whole World

Fernando Parrado and Roberto Canessa together with the muleteer Sergio Catalán. Héctor Maffuche, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The account of the passengers’ survival after 72 days caught the interest of the entire world when it was revealed that individuals had survived the crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571. Numerous foreign journalists started to trek the several kilometers from Puente Negro to Termas Del Flaco. The journalists begged to speak with Parrado and Canessa about the disaster and their struggle to survive.

Three Bell UH-1 helicopters from the Chilean Air Force were used to aid in the rescue. They took off under instrument circumstances in dense cloud cover for Los Maitenes de Curicó, where the soldiers questioned Parrado and Canessa. Around midday, the fog started to clear, and Parrado volunteered to take the chopper crews to the accident scene. He led the helicopters up the mountain to the site of the last survivors using the flight plan the pilot had taken with him. In reserve, one helicopter stayed behind. The two men’s journey over challenging terrain to get assistance surprised the pilots.

9. Some of the other survivors had been slaughtered for food by the survivors

When the survivors were saved, they originally claimed that they had consumed some cheese and other food that they had brought with them, followed by local plants and herbs. They intended to reveal their survival strategies, including their cannibalism, to their families in secret. Immediately following the rescue, rumors began to spread in Montevideo that some of the other survivors had been slaughtered for food by the survivors. Worldwide news reports of cannibalism were released on December 23, with the exception of Uruguay. On December 26, two photographs of a human limb that had been partially consumed by a human being were published on the front pages of two Chilean newspapers, El Mercurio and La Tercera de la Hora, which claimed that all survivors had turned to cannibalism.

10. The Dead Were Buried In A Single Cemetery Close To The Accident Site

Crash Site. BoomerKC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The decision was made by the authorities and the relatives of the deceased to place the bodies in a single cemetery close to the accident site. Another 15 bodies were essentially skeleton, while 13 were unharmed. On January 18, 1973, twelve men and a priest from Chile were brought to the accident scene. No members of the family were permitted to attend. They excavated a burial at a location they believed to be safe from avalanches, 400 to 800 m (1/4 to 12 mi) from the plane’s wreckage.