This is the last image of Uruguayan Flight 571, before it crashed in The Andes on October 13, 1972. 27 out of 45 people survived the initial crash

This is the last image of Uruguayan Flight 571, before it crashed in The Andes on October 13, 1972. 27 out of 45 people survived the initial crash. Survivors were eventually forced to cannibalize the dead to stay alive.

Uruguayan Air Force flight 571, flight of an airplane charted by a Uruguayan amateur rugby team that crashed in the Andes Mountains in Argentina on October 13, 1972, the wreckage of which was not located for more than two months. 16 people were rescued 72 days later.

Uruguayan Air Force flight 571, flight of an airplane charted by a Uruguayan amateur rugby team that crashed in the Andes Mountains in Argentina on October 13, 1972, the wreckage of which was not located for more than two months. Of the 45 people aboard the plane, only 16 survived the ordeal. The incident garnered international attention, especially after it was revealed that the survivors had resorted to cannibalism

The crash initially killed 12 people, leaving 33 survivors, a number of whom were injured. At an altitude of approximately 11,500 feet (3,500 metres), the group faced snow and freezing temperatures. While the plane’s fuselage was largely intact, it provided limited protection from the harsh elements. In addition, the meagre food supplies—mainly candy bars and wine—were gone in about a week. After a lengthy discussion, the starving survivors resorted to eating corpses. Over the next few weeks six others died, and further hardship struck on October 29, when an avalanche buried the fuselage and filled part of it with snow, causing eight more deaths.

During this time, several survivors, the “expeditionaries,” had been surveying the area for an escape route. On December 12, with just 16 people still alive, three expeditionaries set out for help, though one later returned to the wreckage. After a difficult trek, the other two men finally came across three herdsmen in the village of Los Maitenes, Chile, on December 20. However, the Chileans were on the opposite side of a river, the noise of which made it hard to hear. The herdsmen indicated that they would return the following day. Early the next morning, the Chileans reappeared, and the two groups communicated by writing notes on paper that they then wrapped around a rock and threw across the water. The survivors’ initial note began, “I come from a plane that fell in the mountains.” 

The authorities were notified, and on December 22 two helicopters were sent to the wreckage. Six survivors were flown to safety, but bad weather delayed the eight others from being rescued until the next day

Aftermath

In the resulting media frenzy, the survivors revealed that they had been forced to commit cannibalism. The admission caused a backlash until one of the survivors claimed that they had been inspired by the Last Supper, in which Jesus gave his disciples bread and wine that he stated were his body and his blood. The explanation helped sway public opinion, and the church later absolved the men