Today in History—October 13: The Miracle of the Andes

Fair warning: This story contains cannibalism. But it’s also rightfully regarded as a miracle.

On this day in 1972, a plane went down carrying a rugby team. The young men were supposed to play a match in Chile, and—thinking they’d spend a holiday skiing afterward—many invited friends and family along.

The survivors—stranded in the remote Andes Mountains—would not be located for more than two months.

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The flight took off from Mendoza, Argentina, after being forced to land there to wait out bad weather the day before, on its way from Montevideo, Uruguay, to Santiago, Chile. The plane was designed to function at limited altitudes, and the pilot plotted an appropriate course. But both the pilot and air traffic controllers erred, thinking the plane was clear of the mountains. The misjudgment meant the plane clipped a peak and crashed into a valley.

Searchers, dispatched immediately, could not discern the plane—white against snow-covered terrain.

Of the 45 people onboard, 33 survived the impact. Many were injured, and there was insufficient food—including eight chocolate bars, some wine, two tins of mussels—to support survivors. Six more people died in the following weeks. Survivors were soon forced to cannibalize those who’d died. Then an avalanche killed several more.

Those who remained carried on with remarkable ingenuity. They fashioned boots from seat cushions, rebuilt part of the plane to make a shelter, turned plastic sheeting into clothing and sleeping bags. They melted snow for water and tended to the injured.

By December the survivors—now numbering just 16—knew they couldn’t wait much longer, so three men set out to find help. One turned back. But Roberto Canessa and Nando Parrado kept going.

They hiked for 10 days before encountering a cattle hand. They tied a message to a rock and threw it across the river to him. The man returned with help.

The group was saved. Jubilation quickly turned to condemnation after word got out about how they’d survived. But comparisons to Jesus and the Last Supper, partaking of body and blood, swayed the opinion of the public and the church, which absolved survivors of any sins, given the extraordinary circumstances they’d faced—and triumphed over.

Their story became known as the Miracle of the Andes.