All language subtitles for The Andes Plane Crash 2010

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[music playing]

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FERNANDO PARRADO : My
name is Nando Parrado.

I was one of the 16
survivors of Flight 571

which crashed in
the Andes Mountains

on Friday the 13th
of October 1972.

I knew a plane cannot fly
that close to the mountains,

and I looked towards my
mother, and that was a moment

of impact.

[plane crashing]

I was on a very deep coma,
so you wake up very slowly.

And I woke up in hell.

We waited for a rescue
but it didn't come.

Our plane that crashes in
the middle of the mountains

in this snow season, there's
no way people can survive.

And after a week, after 10
days, after three weeks,

after a month of the two
months, who would believe

there was people alive?

The decision of eating the
dead bodies of our friends

started to creep into our
minds at the same time,

you know, because we all had
the same fear, the same lack

of hope, the same confirmation
that we were dead.

And I decided I
was going to die,

but I was going to die trying.

[music playing]

Initially, the trip was
planned for four days.

We would leave on Thursday and
we would come back on Monday

morning.

You are young, you don't
have that much money,

and the easiest way
and the cheapest one

was to charter an
Air Force plane.

The night before the
plane left for Santiago,

the captain of the team told us
that there were still 10 seats

available on the airplane.

And if anyone who wanted
to bring family or friends,

they could go for free.

So I jumped from my seat and
I phoned my mother and said,

mom, prepare a bag.

You're going to Chile
tomorrow, and tell Susy--

so she was my sister--
that she's going, too.

Susy, 17 years old, I
remember, and she always

was running around my rugby
teammates because, you know,

the rugby players.

That's how simply it happened.

I wanted to give them
a present of love

to invite them to
go to Chile with us.

They would shop and
have a nice time,

we would come back on Monday.

But it never happened like that.

We left on Thursday but when the
plane came close to the Andes,

the weather was
not very good so it

had to land in Mendoza,
the last city in Argentina

before the Andes.

And we had to wait
for the weather

to be better so that
the plane could cross.

So we had to sleep in
Mendoza that night.

And the next morning,
we went to the airport

and we boarded the plane and we
left finally on Friday morning

for Santiago.

Nothing made us think or believe
that something terrible going

to happen.

Friday the 13th, I'm not
a superstitious person

and I don't care about that.

But I know, Friday the 13th
and I would crash on that day.

You know, some guys think
about it, some don't.

Obviously, the pilot didn't
think about it too much.

How could a pilot make
such a big mistake?

A pilot with experience.

RAND PECK: The
captain on this flight

was a Uruguayan
Air Force colonel,

and that implies that he
was an experienced pilot.

I know that he had 29 crossings
of the Andes, which is a lot.

However his total time is
total flight experience

was in the range of 5,200 hours.

And by today's standards, 5,200
hours is not a lot of time.

ENRIQUE CROSA
THROUGH INTERPRETER:

The training by the
crew was done according

to international standards.

It was in a good condition
to fly that plane,

without any problems.

RAND PECK: The Fairchild had
a max takeoff weight of 45,000

pounds and carried anywhere
between 45 and 50 passengers.

The engines that it had were
two Rolls-Royce Dart 7 engines

which are approximately
1,725 shaft horsepower each.

The aircraft struggled
because it was under-powered,

and we pretty much referred
to it as a let slip.

GARY ORLANDO: Of the 78
Fairchild 227's built,

23 crashed, and there were
a total of 393 fatalities.

A third of them have been
involved in accidents, which

equates to not a very
good safety record.

FERNANDO PARRADO : At the
time, we didn't know the safety

record of that model
was absolutely horrible.

Had we known that, we would have
never gotten to that airplane.

RAND PECK: After the
take off from Mendoza,

the captain elected to
fly South and make a turn

towards the Planchon Pass.

The reason he
elected to do this is

because he could fly the
aircraft through a Pass

and at a lower altitude.

If he had led to do
strictly go over the Andes,

he would have had to go a lot
higher, which would have been

a lot more stressful
on this aircraft.

It has a hard enough
time getting up

to 15,000 or 16,000
feet, let alone

what it would have needed to
get over the Andes without going

through a Pass.

RICARDO PEÑA: The Andes
Mountains rise so abruptly that

they create very serious storms.

The jet stream is
coming from the Pacific.

All this moist air gets
funneled by the mountains.

That speeds up winds and creates
precipitation, creates clouds.

And so the storms that
can be formed by the Andes

can be very fierce.

FERNANDO PARRADO : This
was a team of friends,

a team of young people flying
to have a fantastic fun weekend.

So the mood in the airplane
was absolutely happy.

I remember people laughing,
people talking, you know,

sitting, kneeling
down on the seats

and looking back and
talking with the guys.

GUSTAVO ZERBINO
THROUGH INTERPRETER:

We were all singing.

We were all super
happy throwing the ball

from one side to the other.

It was quite a fun atmosphere.

FERNANDO PARRADO : Initially,
I sat on the window.

But Panchito Abal
was my best friend,

who was like my brother, and
he said, OK, you have been

for a long time on the window.

Let me look down.

It's easier for me if I'm
on the window to look out.

So we changed seats.

He sat on the window,
he sat on the aisle.

And that's one of
those moments in life

that without thinking
will decide who would live

and who would die, you know.

RICARDO PEÑA: There was a cloud
cover on the mountains so they

have to cross the
Andes to Curico.

And they radio Santiago,
we are on Curico,

and we want permission
to turn north, and then

fly north to Santiago.

MAN ON RADIO:
[non-english speech]

EDWARD C. RODE THROUGH
INTERPRETER: The Fairchild was

expected to arrive
at Curico at 3:33 PM,

but it reported that it
was over Curico at 3:24.

That distance is usually
covered in 11 minutes,

and they reported that they
covered it in three minutes.

Surely, the plane was still in
the middle of the mountains.

RICARDO PEÑA: So the pilots
obviously made a mistake

at some point, calculation.

So actually, they're right
in the middle of the range

and they're thinking
they're already past it.

He makes the unexplained
and catastrophic decision

of turning north into the Andes.

This changes the fate of all
the passengers in the plane.

So he decided to
descend and then

as it was all
covered by clouds, he

didn't see that the mountains
were under the clouds.

RAND PECK: When a pilot gets
into a position where he is not

where he expects to be or
not where he thinks he is,

in order to get out
of that situation,

he has to convince himself
that he's made a mistake.

And it is a different
mindset, you have to now think

that I've made a mistake, how
am I going to get out of this?

ENRIQUE CROSA
THROUGH INTERPRETER:

The cause of the
accident was clearly

human error, fault of the crew.

FERNANDO PARRADO : We started
to get into some light--

not very heavy--
turbulence, you know.

The plane start
to shake a little.

CARLITOS PAEZ
THROUGH INTERPRETER:

The flight attendant
came out into the cabin

and said, "put your seatbelts
on because the plane is going

to dance a little bit."

FERNANDO PARRADO : And then we
got into a little bit heavier

turbulence and the mood
changed a little bit.

Nobody was throwing
balls, you know,

everybody was
sitting on the seat

with the seat belt fastened.

RICARDO PEÑA: They head down
through the clouds and they

think they're
descending into Chile.

And of course, as you get
closer to the mountains,

there's the turbulence of all
the wind currents that create--

that the mountains create,
so they start shaking.

They come from off
the cloud cover

and realize that they're
completely surrounded by rocks

and mountains.

CARLITOS PAEZ
THROUGH INTERPRETER:

There was a feeling
of fear, and the fear

transformed into panic.

We felt the acceleration
of the engine.

FERNANDO PARRADO : I only had
about five or six or seven

seconds to understand that
there was something wrong,

that we were going to crash.

[airplane roaring]

[airplane crashing]

The last image that I had
is the top of the airplane,

the roof over my head
opened and I died.

MAN ON RADIO:
[non-english speech]

[airplane crashing]

ROBERTO CANESSA: The
plane begins sliding down

at a tremendous speed.

And I was waiting for it to
slam against the mountain

but it stopped.

[airplane crashing]

And when it stopped, I
thought, "I'm alive."

[music playing]

RICARDO PEÑA: I've stood on
the impact and I realized that

there's a saddle there.

And that the pilots must
have seen that saddle

and gone for it to try to
overcome the mountains.

To the left, a little to the
left or a little to the right,

they would have hit
cliffs and the plane

would have disintegrated.

PIERS PAUL READ: It was an
extraordinary piece of luck,

I would say, that the
plane didn't disintegrate

all together when
it hit the mountain.

But really, it clipped
off the back of it.

And then the front
toboggan down the mountain

and didn't hit any--

I mean, that was astonishing.

The fuselage ended up landing
on this very steep gully.

It was all covered
in snow, luckily

for them, which allowed the
fuselage to slide down, make

a couple of turns that are
just a natural fall line,

and lead them all the way to
the bottom of the glacier.

It was an extremely
lucky situation.

PIERS PAUL READ: I just think
one must be careful when one

uses the word miraculous.

I mean, you've got to think of
the people who didn't make it

and who died and
indeed who were eaten.

I mean, you know,
it obviously wasn't

miraculous to the
parents of those boys.

RICARDO PEÑA: This is one of
the seat armrests and I found it

high on the mountain.

This belonged obviously to
one of the seats that flew out

the back of the fuselage.

It was obviously very chilling
to think that somebody

was riding on that seat.

This is testament to
a very tragic moment.

[music playing]

CARLITOS PAEZ THROUGH
INTERPRETER: None of us

were familiar with snow.

We were like little boys.

In Uruguay, the maximum
altitude is 500 meters

so we knew nothing.

It was a disaster.

Dead people, injured people,
people with broken legs.

GUSTAVO ZERBINO
THROUGH INTERPRETER:

Immediately after
the plane crashed,

we went about attending
to the wounded.

I went over to Nando's mother.

I touched her and she was dead.

ROBERTO CANESSA:
She was like wrapped

around a seat in a position
that was sure that she was not

alive.

EDUARDO STRAUCH: Nando's
condition for us,

he was a dead body.

ROBERTO CANESSA: He had
flown from the back seat

to the front seat and his
face was very swollen.

And I could barely
know whom he was.

EDUARDO STRAUCH: We moved
Nando's body near the outside

of the fuselage to
make space for us who

survived the accident.

GUSTAVO ZERBINO THROUGH
INTERPRETER: The co-pilot

was in a lot of pain.

And he asked us to bring
him the revolver in order

to kill himself because
he was suffering so much.

ROBERTO CANESSA: Someone
said that he was alive

and I realized that he was
the key man that could tell us

where we were, what
was our location.

He was completely trapped so it
was impossible to get him out.

RICARDO PEÑA: Before the pilot
dies, they hear him saying,

"we passed Curico,
we passed Curico."

The pilot was in shock.

He probably realized that
he had made a mistake

but he's telling himself,
"but how can this be?"

ROBERTO CANESSA: I remember
very vividly that he said,

"we passed Curico.

We passed Curico."

And there was a map there and
we begin looking at the map,

and Curico was both on
the Chilean side very,

very clearly.

RICARDO PEÑA: So the survivors
are thinking this is the only

reliable information we have
from somebody who's supposed

to know about this.

So if we passed
Curico, that means

we are on the western
edge of the Andes.

[music playing]

You find yourself in a
glaciated valley, 12,000 feet

in the middle of the Andes.

It's still today is
a very remote place.

It's like stepping
into a giant freezer,

this valley surrounded
by peaks on three sides

and kind of open to the east.

The mountains around you are
peaks that are 14,000, 15,000,

16,000 feet high.

To the east, you
have El Sosneado,

a volcano that's 18,000 feet.

Very sheer, steep walls.

ERIC JOHNSON: This
party immediately

had to protect themselves from
the elements, or all of them

may not have survived
the first night or two.

And they're put instantly into
a very high altitude environment

where now they have to start
a very quickly adjusting

to the elevation.

GUSTAVO ZERBINO THROUGH
INTERPRETER: The first night

was horrible because the sun
set at 4:00 in the afternoon.

And we had to wait about
15 hours for the sun

to come up again.

ERIC JOHNSON: They quickly had
to decide how they're going

to survive the first night.

Sharing warmth
amongst themselves

was probably the
most important thing

that they could have done.

[music playing]

You're in this expectation that
you're going to be rescued,

and hopes are high, and you're
going to do everything you can

to survive those first few
days until the helicopters come

over the mountain
and pick you up.

And then they don't.

[music playing]

And then friends around you die.

EDUARDO STRAUCH: We
move all the dead body

to the outside of the fuselage
so we have more space.

GUSTAVO ZERBINO
THROUGH INTERPRETER:

After the plane crashed and
we didn't have any food,

we shared a few little cups of
liquor, some little chocolates,

and that was all we had.

[music playing]

Nando, Nando.

CONRADO J. ESTOL: The
person had an accident

like the one Nando had, the
treatment we would do nowadays

in the 21st century actually
exactly what nature did

to Nando with total
serendipity in 1972.

It was recently proven that low
temperature based hypothermia

is one of the only
effective neuroprotectants.

That is something to
protect an injured brain.

The fact that Nando
was considered dead

and was truly seriously
ill and dead bodies close

to the entrance and coldest
part of the fuselage

probably extended a
significantly protective effect

of his injured brain.

Based on the great
paradox, the accident

itself is what probably
kept Nando alive.

FERNANDO PARRADO : The first
things that I started seeing

were the eyes and the faces of
my friends who were very close

to me, looking to me, and
speaking, "Nando, we crashed.

Can you hear me?

Can you listen?

Can you hear?

We crashed."

I remember Nando
saying the first words,

asking about his
mother and his sister.

FERNANDO PARRADO : They
said your mother is dead,

and so she's
wounded, she's hurt.

My mind discarded in
that moment my mother.

I mean, she's dead.

I can't do anything for her
so I focused on my sister

and I crawled to where she was.

ROBERTO CANESSA: He
was very devoted to her

and was trying to do
his best but there

was very little to do.

[music playing]

FERNANDO PARRADO : The first
time I got out of there,

I was shocked at the sheer
majesty and size of the place

where we were.

Everything was white,
white, white, white.

And it was cold and it
was huge and silent.

At an altitude of 11,000,
12,000, 14,000 feet,

there's absolutely nothing.

There's ice, snow,
and black rocks.

That's all.

There's nothing that can provide
any sort of food or nutrition.

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Obviously, we
waited for a rescue

from the first, second, third,
fourth day, but it didn't come.

ENRIQUE CROSA
THROUGH INTERPRETER:

We arrived in Chile and
they divided the search area

between the Chilean Air
Force, the Argentinean Air

Force, and us.

And we performed a series
of flights over the Andes

from north to south, something
we had never done before,

and we saw absolutely nothing.

[music playing]

CARLOS PAEZ THROUGH INTERPRETER:
It will be a little crazy

to assume that your
son had survived.

The important thing
for me was the search.

CARLOS VERGINELLA
THROUGH INTERPRETER:

It was very sad the
stage we lived through

and we didn't know anything.

I was one of those who firmly
believed that none had survived

the Andes.

GRACIELA PARRADO: My heart
told me that they were dead.

FERNANDO PARRADO : The last
hours that I spent with

my sister, with Susy, the only
thing I could do was to hold

her.

We didn't have any medicines.

We didn't have anything.

She was very badly hurt,
injured internally.

I stayed with her
the whole night.

And I think that she was
aware that I was there.

She couldn't speak.

She only looked at me
with her beautiful eyes

and she died in my
arms that night.

[music playing]

At least I'm happy that she
passed away with me, you know,

not alone.

[music playing]

The real hope died
on the 10th day

when we listened on that
small transistor radio

that we had that the
rescue had been abandoned.

And before the 10th day, we
had this glimpse of hope.

And after that, hope
was non-existent,

hope only prolonged
the suffering.

The hope absolutely went away.

[music playing]

I said, Nando, there isn't
anything left in the storage

compartments where we kept
the chocolates and the can

of sardines that we had.

And Nando looked me in the
eye and said, Carlitos,

I want to eat the pilot.

[music playing]

FERNANDO PARRADO : The struggle
to survive was so strong,

and the fear, and the
waiting for the helicopters,

and fighting the cold and
the thirst, and the stress,

and helping other guys.

You know, days went by and I
never felt pain in my stomach

or anything like that.

I was hungry but I don't
remember having any pain.

ERIC JOHNSON: When people are in
a starvation mode, what happens

is we start taking all our
food supplies from our liver.

The next thing to go is
typically muscle, and then

our adipose tissue,
our fatty tissue,

and then we start digesting
our internal organs.

That's really what
happens as people starve.

They had to have a food source.

You can survive only a
few days without water,

they had kind of
solved that problem.

[music playing]

But you can only survive in
that kind of environment,

you know, from days to weeks
without some kind of food.

FERNANDO PARRADO :
When you're abandoned,

there's nothing at the altitude.

You look into any item that
could be edible, you know.

And we had read so many times
about history and explorers who

were without food
and they tried to eat

their shoes and their
suitcases and leather straps.

And we tried.

We tasted pieces of leather, you
know, from suitcases and things

like that.

They're not edible.

They're chemically treated.

They would do much more harm so
there was absolutely nothing.

You cannot eat foam
from the cushions.

You cannot eat plastic.

When rescue is abandoned, you
know that you have to eat.

The chocolates are gone,
and if you want to survive

and the survival instinct is
probably the strongest instinct

on any human being.

It brings you to a
different state of mind.

The decision of eating the
dead bodies of our friends

started to creep into our
minds at the same time,

you know, because we all had
the same fear, the same lack

of hope, the same confirmation
that we were dead,

that we were
condemned, no rescue,

we're abandoned to our own luck.

On the same day, three
or four or five guys

started to speak
about the same thing.

I spoke it with Carlitos.

I don't remember if I
was the first one or not,

but you know, five,
six hours later,

everybody was speaking
about the same subject.

CARLITOS PAEZ
THROUGH INTERPRETER:

I said, Adolfo, Nando is crazy.

He wants to eat the pilot.

And Adolfo told me,
he's not that crazy.

My cousins and I have already
been thinking about that.

It was very difficult
to accept this idea.

It was in the mind
of many of us.

We want to live,
and the only way

was to eat the bodies
of our friends.

You know, one of the things
that was used to persuade some

of those reluctant to eat
the flesh of dead bodies

was the comparison with
the Eucharist, the Catholic

Eucharist whereby, you know,
Christ's body turn into bread

and you eat the bread.

And it was a sort
of analogy that

helped some of the doubters, if
you like, to eat human flesh.

RICARDO PEÑA: The survivors had
only a screwdriver and an axe

that was on the plane.

So they had to make more tools.

And some of the
tools that they made

were knives made out of
plastic, of the windows.

And in February 2005, we had
the luck to find one of these.

It's one of the
knives that they made.

Well, the reason why they need
a knife was to cut the meat.

So obviously, this
was used for that.

It was sharpened or
cut with the axe.

ROBERTO CANESSA: It's terrible
to invade someone else

and to take advantage
of someone that is dead.

And the only reason I did it is
because I thought that if I had

died, I would be very proud to
be part of a project of life.

FERNANDO PARRADO : It's hard to
put yourself in that situation

but being there, you
would have been one of us.

There's only one option, the
decision comes quite easy.

ERIC JOHNSON: Think about it.

Every individual
in that group had

to look down, see little
pieces of protein,

a little pieces of fat.

And when they bring it up to
their mouth, what's their mind

telling them?

For some, it's going to be,
oh my god, this is my friend.

This was someone in
seat 3-B. And then

others when they consumed
it and all of a sudden

the body responded
in a favorable way

where they felt some strength,
maybe some flow of energy

back in the body, this was
a glimmer of hope where they

can survive and be rescued.

[music playing]

GUSTAVO ZERBINO
THROUGH INTERPRETER:

From a religious point of
view, for me, it wasn't a sin.

I understood that a body that
was there, before the worms ate

it, could be utilized by us.

For me, that didn't
affect me then

and it doesn't affect me now.

ROBERTO CANESSA: From
the medical point

of view, it's proteins,
it's fat, it's lipids, it's

carbohydrates, and
a source of energy,

there's no doubt about it.

RICARDO PEÑA: For them, trying
at different parts of the body,

eating organs that are
more rich in vitamins,

was essential for the nutrition.

There was something that
their bodies were craving.

When they would try
something different,

it would taste good because the
body's telling them, yes, you

need more vitamins,
you need this.

Any different
flavor was something

that was highly welcome.

So that's how they ended
up eating everything,

you know, almost every
part of the body.

ERIC JOHNSON: People use the
term cannibalism for their food

source.

I actually consider it
more of survival food.

They did what they had to do.

I've read and I have seen our
story described as cannibalism,

which I think is wrong.

Cannibalism is when
you kill to eat.

I mean, ancient warriors
kill the enemy tribes

and then they eat
the dead, and it

had a lot of tribal and
spiritual meanings also,

you know.

In our case, I think the
terminology that we should use

is anthropophagy, you know,
and it's just terminology.

We made a pact and we
did what people do now.

People give blood to
friends, to family members.

They make organ transplants,
you know, and we made a pact.

We said, OK, hand in hand,
if I die, please use my body,

so at least one of us
can get out of here.

As a human being, you will see
and do things so horrible you

cannot even start to imagine.

But things get worse.

RICARDO PEÑA: What the survivors
didn't realize was that this

place was a time bomb.

[ominous music]

Where the fuselage was, was a
place that gets regularly hit

by avalanches.

It was just a matter of time
before an avalanche would come

down.

Nobody in the plane had any
experience with glaciers,

with avalanches,
with snow that's

one of the tragedies
of the situation.

[music playing]

SCOTT TOEPFER:
Avalanches have been

known to move reinforced
concrete buildings

off their foundations.

They've taken trains
off the train tracks.

They have taken steel
bridges and blown them apart.

So there is an enormous
amount of impact pressure

behind avalanches.

FERNANDO PARRADO : You're at
the worst thing that can happen

in your life.

I mean, we were
stranded in the Andes,

surviving in the worst way
a human being can survive.

GUSTAVO ZERBINO
THROUGH INTERPRETER:

For three consecutive days, it
snowed, and snowed, and snowed.

We were totally enclosed in
the plane surrounded by snow.

FERNANDO PARRADO :
Surviving in that way,

two and a half weeks after
the plane crashed at night,

in complete darkness, we
heard the distant sound.

SCOTT TOEPFER: I've heard some
people describe an avalanche

when it started as a large
boom, like a sonic boom

from an airplane as
the avalanche failed

on its weak layer.

Sometimes they
make hissing noises

and sometimes they're
absolutely quiet,

you don't even know that they
are coming down the mountain

until they actually strike you.

CARLITOS PAEZ THROUGH
INTERPRETER: Very quickly,

we felt something like the sound
of a pack of horses charging

at us, coming from above.

FERNANDO PARRADO : It was
something so lightningly fast.

I heard the sound and
I looked to my right.

And at that moment, the
avalanche hit the airplane.

The avalanche came
down off the mountain.

It went right in the
open end of the fuselage,

blowing out the wall that they
had built to help protect them

and buried all the
people that were inside.

FERNANDO PARRADO :
Two seconds later,

I was completely buried
by the avalanche.

CARLITOS PAEZ
THROUGH INTERPRETER:

Quickly, tons of snow
got inside the fuselage

and buried us completely.

I was trapped completely by
this snow and the avalanche

and it's the most deadly
silence you may imagine.

I couldn't moved.

SCOTT TOEPFER: You are stuck
in this contorted position.

You could be bent backwards with
your heels against your head.

You could be in a position where
the pain is just unendurable

and yet you can't
breathe anymore either.

It can be a horrible,
horrible way to die.

I felt I was dying, and
then a smile came to my face

because I realized that
everything was over.

You can only
survive, you know,

three minutes without oxygen.
So if you don't have adequate

oxygen to breathe, you will die
in that three or four-minute

time frame.

SCOTT TOEPFER: Probably
somewhere around 75%

of people that are
buried in avalanches

die from asphyxiation.

CARLITOS PAEZ
THROUGH INTERPRETER:

Roy Harley managed to get
out, and then I got out.

The first thing that we wanted
to do was dig our friends out.

Diego Storm, Nicolich.

But when I got to them,
they were both dead.

SCOTT TOEPFER: It was it must
have been an incredible panic

situation.

Now, what do I do?

What do I do?

They're all in this
confined space.

But as soon as you
move snow, you're

piling it on top of other
people because everybody's

packed in so tight.

CARLITOS PAEZ
THROUGH INTERPRETER:

We continued looking for people,
uncovering what we could.

GUSTAVO ZERBINO
THROUGH INTERPRETER:

I opened up my eyes and I
realized that I was alive.

And they dug me out.

Roy Harley took all
the snow from my face.

CARLITOS PAEZ
THROUGH INTERPRETER:

And I remember looking
for the only woman who

was alive at the time,
which was Lilianna Methol.

Looking for her, I found
the head of Nando Parrado,

and he managed to survive.

This avalanche killed
eight of us, you know.

Eight of our guys were
killed by the avalanche.

[music playing]

It's just another brutal blow.

As if things couldn't
get any worse, it seems,

you know, avalanche comes, kills
eight of them at that point.

And it's hard to
imagine, I think.

You're trapped in
this little space.

Now, it just completely
covered the plane.

There's no light, and now
they have a little space

and a little bit of
oxygen to survive on.

And they're on top of their
dead friends, the ones that were

just alive instance before.

And they have to survive three
days and something like that.

I think it's just one of the
most horrible circumstances you

can even imagine.

Our first concern was to
be buried like a submarine

without power in the
bottom of the ocean.

You know, you have water on top,
how would you get out of there?

And also, we had air.

So we said, OK,
don't move too much.

Breathe, breathe slowly because
we don't know if we have air.

A lot of the guys said,
OK, what does it matter?

There's certainly no air.

We are buried.

We are dead.

If we get out of this
burial, of this fuselage,

we will be on the same situation
that we were before, stranded,

lost in the middle of the Andes.

Nobody's looking for us.

We don't have any food.

We don't have water.

We're cold.

We'll die anyway.

So we are already
buried, let's stay here.

RICARDO PEÑA: Now, they have to
eat from their very own friends

that were right there.

Even worse, you know, I
mean, the story of survivors

is it had so many
extreme moments.

FERNANDO PARRADO : I think that
the human spirit is stronger

than reality sometimes.

And we asked ourselves,
what are we doing, you know?

At least we are breathing.

And if we are
breathing, we are alive.

Let's fight until
we stop breathing.

I found one of
the poles that you

tie straps to hold the luggage.

And there was one of
these poles in the floor.

And I used it to make a hole
in the top of the fuselage

so that air would come in.

I always think that if the
avalanche hadn't happened,

we wouldn't have survived.

And people say, why?

And I look back and I say,
well, first, the avalanche

covered the airplane,
and all the blizzards

and all the storms went over.

So we were not hit
directly by the storms.

And secondly, we could wait
there one and a half more

months because we had
eight more bodies.

And it's very hard to think
about that, but it's a reality.

I was terrified.

I didn't know what to do.

I just followed my
heart, my intuition.

I wanted to go back to my father
and I didn't take into account

all the risks that
those things involved.

Had we known what we
were going to face,

we would never have started.

[music playing]

RICARDO PEÑA: As this
snow melted around it,

it left the fuselage in
a bit sort of a pedestal.

So it was very unstable, and
in fact, they were afraid

that it was going to
roll off into a crevasse.

ERIC JOHNSON: Over the
weeks, you know, they

came into a routine of
drying out the airplane,

and drying out
their sleeping pads,

and gathering water,
and gathering food.

And it comes down again
to a routine of basics.

They were in a
survival situation.

FERNANDO PARRADO : The most
secure place on that remote

landscape was the fuselage.

I mean, it was like a
hut, was like an igloo,

and comfort was
inside that place.

You only got out of
there because you

had to trek, you had to test
things, you had to explore.

ED VIESTURS: You know, the Andes
are an amazing mountain range.

They stretch the whole
length of South America.

They're rugged, they're tall.

The air is thin
in the Andes just

like in any other high
mountains of the world.

So it is a very challenging
and difficult range

of mountains to try to climb.

FERNANDO PARRADO : The first
guys who left the airplane

for the first time, they just
went away like 250 yards from

the fuselage, and they found
it so difficult to walk on deep

snow, crevasses, that
they had to return.

CARLITOS PAEZ
THROUGH INTERPRETER:

It was very hard to
go out from the plane.

It was very hard because
the plane, in some sense,

would protect you.

I went out on three expeditions.

Went out and came back,
always trying to look

for the tail of the plane.

And in the last expedition,
I remember that I surrender.

GUSTAVO ZERBINO
THROUGH INTERPRETER:

I return with my eyes mostly
blinded, burned by the snow

because I didn't
have any shades.

And it loosened up
my teeth and my feet

were practically gangrened.

It was very tough because
you felt like an insect

against the hugest
forces of nature.

CARLITOS PAEZ
THROUGH INTERPRETER:

It is the story of being easier
to die than it is to live.

The most attractive
option was to die.

We are creatures of
learning, you know,

and we had to gain experience.

If we want to attempt
further expeditions,

we will have to be
more careful, we

will have to be better equipped.

ED VIESTURS: Any survival
story that you read about,

whether it's on a desert island
or in the middle of the ocean

or in the mountains, people
simply out of desperation

improvise and they build
and make the things

that they need to survive.

[music playing]

FERNANDO PARRADO : Once that
we had created a couple of snow

shoes, I was selected
as the expedition leader

because probably of my will
to get out of there and look

for my father and
go back to him.

And then I said, OK, we
have to test the equipment.

We have to go further
down the valley

to see how we react
ourselves as a team.

PIERS PAUL READ: Nando
became a kind of, you know,

what in a boarding school
called the head boy.

I mean, he was sort of--

the younger boys
looked up to him.

[music playing]

FERNANDO PARRADO :
Roberto, Antonio, myself,

we left one morning to try to
get away as far as we could

from the airplane and
come back in the day.

It was a test.

It was a research and
development, you could call it.

And we started to walk down
the valley, down the valley,

down the valley.

And suddenly, as soon as
we went over a small hill,

we saw the tail.

The tail had flown, had
been torn from the fuselage

and it had cartwheeled
down the mountain.

And it was in the valley.

There were a few
suitcases there.

And instantly, we
searched for food.

We only found a small box of
chocolates, and the camera.

We also found something
that was quite interesting,

which were the batteries.

24 volt batteries that were
installed there at the tail.

And we said, OK,
we have batteries,

we have radios in the cockpit.

Maybe we can make
these radios work.

So we decided to
spend the night there,

and the next day, we went all
the way up to the fuselage

again.

And we said, OK, we have to take
the radios from the cockpit.

Roy helped us.

As he has assembled a
stereo unit in his home,

we declared him
the radio expert.

But you know, that connecting
radio equipment to batteries

is not easy.

We didn't have any knowledge.

And from the back part of
those radios, bundles of cables

came out that we had to cut.

How do we connect those
cables to the batteries?

Impossible, you know.

They never worked.

And another piece of hope
was completely destroyed

and we were very depressed
because we had put a lot

of hope on the radio to work.

When we found the
camera on the tail,

I remember saying,
OK, it has a roll.

Let's take pictures
because maybe this camera

will be found.

Maybe 50, 60, 100 years from now
and they will reveal the roll

and they will see that
people lived here.

Because on our minds,
we were going to die.

So we took photographs.

[music playing]

GUSTAVO ZERBINO
THROUGH INTERPRETER:

One night, Arturo
threw something at me,

and he said he was
in a lot of pain.

So I lowered him and he
told me that he was dying.

So for about an hour,
I started doing CPR.

When I stopped, he was acting
as if he was going to die.

And so I continued until
finally, I told him

I couldn't do it anymore.

And he got really calm and he
let go of my hands like this

and he died with the look
of happiness on his face.

[music playing]

FERNANDO PARRADO : In the
case of Numa Turcatti,

his physical condition told
him that he was going to die,

that there was no way out.

And he did not survive.

GUSTAVO ZERBINO THROUGH
INTERPRETER: We left him a lot

and he never complained.

He died weighing 55 pounds.

Waiting in his
horrible at that

point when you're
condemned to die.

[music playing]

I kept speaking with Roberto.

Roberto, we have to get out
of here as soon as we can.

We couldn't try to
escape to the south

because we didn't know
where we were going.

To the north, the northern
part of South America.

For us to the east,
laid the whole Andes.

But to the west was Chile, and
we had to aim to that country.

The pilot, before he died,
had said we've crossed the Andes

and Chile is to the West.

And this, to the West
is Chile, became a kind

of slogan, that kind of dogma
that none of them could doubt.

FERNANDO PARRADO : We didn't
know if we were in Argentina.

And Chile, we only
knew that to the west

was Chile because of the sun.

We would climb one
mountain, and from the top,

we would see green
valleys lights of our city

in the horizon.

To the west, we
would be saved.

Their information indicated
that the wise decision

was west.

They thought over that ridge is
going to be the green valleys

of Chile.

To the east, not only do they
think that the whole Andes was

there, but there's nothing
really encouraging for them

other than the fact
that it's downhill.

The survivors didn't realize
if they would have gone east

into that valley, there's a
hotel 18 miles away from them.

[music playing]

[music playing]

The hotel is 18 miles away.

It is a hell of a hike
out to get to that point.

RICARDO PENA: And it's on the
other side of the Hotel river.

It is quite a big river too.

You can really cross it.

So most likely it
wouldn't have been

able to get to the other
side, where the hotel was.

So it's-- it's easy to second
guess once you know everything

else.

But they did.

And Nando was
very desperate to--

to get out of there
because he-- he

wanted to go back to
his father and tell him

that not everything was lost.

Nando was-- was raring to go.

PIERS RAUL READ: He had this
extraordinary determination

to leave and get
back to his father.

I think he realized that
either he got himself out

of there or most likely
they were all going to die.

PIERS RAUL READ: I think
the others procrastinated,

they hesitated,
they held him back,

they thought it wasn't right,
they kept putting it off.

It's difficult to know why.

I think partly because--
because they were frightened

he might fail.

He had the same
time understood

that he needed support.

ROBERTO CANESSA:
So he asked me to--

to go with him.

And I saw that in
the plane, there

were lots of people pushing
Nando and grabbing Nando

thought of getting out of there.

But they wouldn't go with him.

So I thought that this
was a very coward attitude

of supporting someone,
but not completely.

ROBERTO CANESSA:
At that moment, I

realized that I was the guy
that-- that could have Nando.

Nando said because
you see very well.

You can handle the maps.

And you're a handy man.

And-- and I want you to go.

ROBERTO CANESSA: And Tintin
was fit, and Nando was fit,

I was fit.

The last expedition was
made up of Parrado, Canessa,

and [inaudible].

And they had the sleeping bag.

I had the idea that
with the insulation

you can make a sleeping bag.

CARLITOS PAEZ: But I not only
had the idea, I made it myself.

And it was without a doubt the
proudest moment of my life.

The contribution that I made
for that final expedition,

that sleeping bag that I made.

Carlitos with a
needle and copper wire.

Sew those pieces together.

NANDO PARRADO: And we made
like-- like a sleeping bag that

was fundamental to cope with
the cold in-- in the scape.

When I go on a
climb, you know,

I have a checklist of equipment.

Cold weather gear,
solid heavy boots,

crampons which attach to the
boots which give me traction

in the snow.

Ice axes gloves, hats, insulated
clothing, tents, sleeping bags,

ropes, anchors.

ED VIESTURS: I mean, there's--
there's a-- a pile of equipment

that we really don't ever
leave home without when we go

into the mountains.

And when these guys
crashed, you know,

they were rugby players,
they were dressed for summer.

ED VIESTURS: And to land in
the middle of this Arctic

wilderness, you might say
with literally nothing,

it was pretty amazing feat.

We've got to improvise.

We've got to build and create
our own equipment just so

that we can get out of here.

We had already decided
that the three of us

were going to leave the
airplane as soon as we

had a window in the weather.

NANDO PARRADO: Finally,
we left on December 12.

The three of us.

We left to walk off.

And Nando returns,
and he tells me.

Carlitos, before leaving, I want
to give a kiss to your rosary.

CARLITOS PAEZ: In exchange for
that, he gives me a little shoe

and he tells me.

Carlitos, I promise you
that I'm going to come back

for this other shoe.

That he was going to come
back to reunite the pair.

But then he adds, and this
is the most important.

But if this doesn't
happen, and you guys

need to use my mother
and my sister, and do it.

And that was such a
great act because he

didn't have to give us that
authorization, but he did.

To the West is Chile,
and this was the idea

which we left in the fuselage.

The only certain thing
was the West was Chile.

ROBERTO CANESSA:
On the first day,

we were very optimistic
and full of energy.

And at the
beginning of the day,

everything is very easy
because it's always very hard.

ROBERTO CANESSA: But
as the day passes by,

the snow begins to melt.

NANDO PARRADO: I had never
claimed any mountains before.

So I didn't know
what I was doing.

But it was so strenuous.

You know, at that
altitude, you breathe

and you get less oxygen.

NANDO PARRADO: And I
remember seeing those films

with climbers, walking very
slowly towards the summit

of the mountain.

And I said, why don't
they walk faster?

You know, and then I
was in the situation,

and I just couldn't
move fast, you know.

You just take five
breaths and move one leg.

And then the other leg
and you climb and climb.

ED VIESTURS: When they were
confronted with this headwall,

they had 2000 feet of
climbing to do at a 45 degree

angle, which is quite steep.

And the snow was an impediment
to their climbing higher.

And you can imagine
without any skill,

without any training, you're
like a child when you are

confronted with a snow slope.

You try to go straight up.

You might be using your
hands and your feet.

You're slipping or sliding.

And for every step
that you go up,

you slide back a half a step.

RICARDO PENA: It's hard to
explain the fear of the unknown

that having no clue what
you're getting yourself into.

It could be terrifying.

You know even in
mountaineering when we do know

what we're up against, what the
route is, what the summit is,

what it's been documented
and everything.

It's still intimidating.

NANDO PARRADO:
Looks like courage.

It looks--

And I can tell you
it was not courage.

It was fear.

And which I then
took to climb through--

through the rocky parts instead
of the snow leaving the snow.

And this came on loose.

And there were huge
rocks coming down.

Something you know, we
are going to close up.

Nando, come down.

This is not the way.

NANDO PARRADO: I was so--

so wasted, you know.

When we reached one
of the false summits.

I said I--

there's no strength in me.

You know, I don't
I said come on.

Are you breathing?

You know, you're
still breathing.

Come on.
You can do it.

OK.

I said I'll keep on going
until I stop breathing.

NANDO PARRADO: You know
that was my-- my thought.

Nothing more profound.

Nothing more critical.

I'm alive.

I'm breathing.

I'll keep on going.

And we put the sleeping bag.

And-- and the wind come down.

And the rally was incredible.

It was just gorgeous.

ROBERTO CANESSA:
The moon came down.

And we had some rain.

And we had fine on
the tail of the plane.

And taking this rain
and I couldn't believe

that I was enjoying the scenery
after struggling and crying

and weeping.

What we were facing
after the first day

climbing that first mountain
was not what I expected to find.

NANDO PARRADO: The
first day I thought

I was going to be in
the summit and looking

at the green valleys of Chile.

But we were halfway
climbing the mountain.

CARLITOS PAEZ: What is it--

it was very disheartening
for the first three days

because it took them
three days to climb up.

What they thought would
only take one day, took three.

CARLITOS PAEZ: And
for three days,

we saw them as little points
up there on the mountain.

RICARDO PENA: Alberto
was looking at a distance

and seeing a line thinking
that could be a road.

And it was impossible for
them to tell if it was or not.

The road is very
interesting because Nando says

that the road doesn't exist.

ROBERTO CANESSA: But
the road is there.

And I bet everything
that I saw that road.

We actually know now that what
he was looking at was the road.

Once I was there, I
took a photograph.

RICARDO PENA: And I realized
that we could actually

see the road that we
use now from the East

to access this Valley.

But this is a very interesting
because Although this was

the right answer at that
moment was so much in a chance

in 1,000 that there was a road.

They were in a
very tough situation.

They had already
made a huge effort

to get that high
on the mountain.

And Nando's still had the
hope that looking over

the top of the mountain, he
was going to see green valleys

and everything.

When I was drawn down, Nando
would say let's keep going.

NANDO PARRADO: I would
climb the mountain.

And I would see salvacion
on the other side.

And when we climbed that
first mountain, what

we saw to the other
side really froze me.

I couldn't breathe.

I couldn't speak.

I couldn't even think because
what we saw was horrible.

And still green valleys, we
saw mountains and snow covered

peaks 360 degrees around us
to the horizon all around us.

NANDO PARRADO: And I knew
there that I was really dead.

I decided the way
I was going to die.

There was absolutely
no way we could survive

what we were looking at.

And I told Robert, look,
there's no way we can go back.

The only ways
forward will die.

But we'll die trying.

NANDO PARRADO: And you know,
he looked at me and said, OK.

We have done so many
things together.

Let's do one more.

Let's die together.

When the three of them Tintin
and Nando and Roberto got

to the top of the mountain.

And so there weren't the
green valleys of Chile

that had always supposed to be
on the side of the mountain.

They were--

PIERS RAUL READ: It was--
it was a terrible moment

and psychologically.

It was a terrible blow.

And again, it shows
Nando's extraordinary sort

of psychological resilience.

That instead of being
daunted, and depressed,

and giving up in despair,
he just said right.

We're going to go on.

We're going to keep going West.

As it's been said that hard
and tough and challenging

situations create character.

ED VIESTURS: I think they
actually reveal character.

When you're put
into a situation,

a desperate situation, all the
things that you are and learned

come out.

Roberto and myself
we got along very--

very well together.

NANDO PARRADO: We
were a fantastic team.

And I told her to look.

The three of us
move very slowly.

And we said Antonio,
please go back give us

whatever you have a food.

The two of us would go forward.

And tell the guys that will
climb and trek to the West.

Tintin he was delighted he
beetle back down the mountain

as quickly as he possibly could.

Because, at least, they
felt safe in that plane.

I mean, you know they
had survived and would

go on surviving.

CARLITOS PAEZ: After three
days, we saw that one of them

came down.

And we went to meet him.

And it was Tintin.

When we got there, he
told us instead of finding

the green valleys of Chile, they
saw pathetic and disheartening

panorama.

But Nando and Roberto
made the decision

to take teams food
and his extra clothes.

And they sent him to the
fuselage with a message

that the two of them
would forge ahead.

And they wouldn't stop
until they were dead.

RICARDO PENA: He saw two peaks
that had no snow in them.

And behind those peaks,
you can see no more peaks.

And you see the moisture
of the Pacific Ocean.

When you stand
there, and you look

at how far those peaks are,
it's really brings it home.

What a desperate
situation they were in.

My need to get out was
completely unique to me

because there would be a
time when we didn't have more

bodies, except the bodies
of my mother and my sister.

NANDO PARRADO: And
I wouldn't even

like to think to
get to that moment

when we would have to use
their corpses to survive.

I had to get out of there.

And we started
down the mountains.

And that it.

It was two guys
deciding to go forward.

ROBERTO CANESSA: And I
said let's go for it.

Let's forget about it.

And-- and I knew it was--
this was a no return way.

But every step is a step.

And if we had gone
back to-- to the plane,

there were no chances.

RICARDO PENA: I wanted to see
what they were up against,

what they had gone through.

Just how challenging was.

Especially for a
mountaineer, it would

be I was fascinated by it.

RICARDO PENA: So in December
2005, we retrace escape route.

We chose the same days that
the survivors had gone.

We wanted to experience the
same snow conditions, recreate

as much as possible
the challenge

that they had without, of
course, killing ourselves.

So we brought equipment.

We came prepared.

RICARDO PENA: Our plan was to
try to set up similar camps

to what they had done
as closely as possible.

But once we were on
the slope, the slope

was so avalanche prone
that whole slope could go.

You could fall to your death.

And so we-- I didn't like it.

And I thought the
only thing to do here

is just push and go all the
way to the top in one day.

And once you hit the ridge,
you're safe around altitude.

You're safe.

Nothing is going to fall on you.

And so it was a brutal day.

It was a really hard day.

We-- we pushed really hard
and we went all the way up

basically covering the distance
that Robert took cover in three

days.

RICARDO PENA: It was exhausting.

When you're in the
mountains, it's

much harder to judge
distances, and sizes.

And the valleys they climb
down on are just immense.

They really-- there's a picture
that we took with where you see

those little dots.

And just a black
little speck there.

And it's actually Mario one
of our expedition members.

And once you see
the little dug,

you realize the size of the
valley you're looking at.

It's very, very huge
mountains all around you.

It's really a very
humbling experience.

What I remember of the
10 days with Roberto it's--

it's like blurred the images
of continuous and strenuous

effort.

NANDO PARRADO: It was so huge.

You know, the
mountains are so huge.

That it looks like you
don't make any progress.

You know, and you think
OK I'll get there.

I'll get there in two or
three hours or five hours.

But so huge that
you never get there.

You know.

The only way you go forward
is because you can't go back.

ED VIESTURS: Nando and
Roberto as they journeyed out

for those 10 long arduous
days, that was an amazing feat.

And you truly have to think
about what they suffered

through.

They can't explain that.

ED VIESTURS: I think I have an
idea of what they went through.

But it's still quite
an amazing feat.

RICARDO PENA: I
think it was Roberto

that set one foot on the ground,
and another foot on snow.

This is the line
between life and death.

I'm going to make it.

I'm not going to die
there like everybody else.

I'm going to live.

That line, where
the ice finished

for me was the line between
life and death for myself.

Yeah.

It was like crossing a very
thin line jumping from one side

to another one.

We were very happy.

Now, that the temperatures
are warmer, now that they're not

in such a danger
to freezing, now,

they don't have
refrigeration for their food.

And so the food
starts going right.

And that's a new problem.

ROBERTO CANESSA: The
next day, we were very--

very happy to see
things changing

from the normal atmosphere
of snow white rock and--

and then we would begin
hearing water that was

pouring out and hearing was--

was going back to normal life.

And then we saw this river
was growing out of the ice.

And I see--

I saw a green spot there.

NANDO PARRADO: I
had a grasp of life.

First, when we saw that there
was some civilization here,

you know, we saw a cow.

So that it must be a
human being nearby.

RICARDO PENA: I could see how
significant that was for them.

We start seeing plants, we start
seeing a little bit of flowers.

I mean, living things.

And you smell these flowers.

You haven't smelled anything
like that in so many days.

RICARDO PENA: And little grass.

You can smell it,
and it's like wow.

It's just.

And they talk about starting
to find their first signs

of civilization.

And they had a big
debate about the weather.

If somebody threw it from
a plane or something,

and to at them.

You can't open a
window in a plane.

Obviously, didn't
come from a plane.

Like this it's
a sign of human--

humans being here.

I was in a five star hotel.

I had water.

I had grass to eat.

ROBERTO CANESSA: And I realized
with what simple things

we need to be happy and how we
demand lots more than what we

need in life.

The precise
moment, I really knew

that I was going to survive.

I was looking towards
the West and the West

looking towards the North and--

NANDO PARRADO: Look,
Nando, a man on a horse.

And I looked and
instantly I saw him.

We started to shout.

Both of us

NANDO PARRADO: Somebody
is looking at us.

It's a human being.

We couldn't communicate.

But he looked at us because
obviously he couldn't believe

that there were two guys so
high up in the mountains.

RICARDO PENA: It was very
difficult to communicate

across this river because of
the noise of this raging river.

You can't cross it.

There's just no way
and no question.

If you get down,
it'll take you.

It'll take you down.

You'll drown.

NANDO PARRADO: The night came
and we lost sight of him.

And we spent all that
night with Roberto.

I remember talking to say, OK,
look, we are near civilization.

So maybe tomorrow
we'll get help, you know.

I feel so happy now.

How do you feel?

You know, all those things.

And we have to get help
from the other guys.

NANDO PARRADO: And the next
morning at around 5:36, we

saw small fire on the shore
at the edge of the river

on the other side of the river.

I was stronger than water.

So I went down.

The sound of the
water was so high

that we couldn't
understand each other.

And this guy with great
intelligence and common sense,

he got a small stone, put
that piece of paper around it,

tied it with a string, pencil,
and threw it across the river.

And that's when I wrote
that message, you know.

NANDO PARRADO: I come
from a plane that

fell into the mountains.

I'm Uruguayan.

We have been
walking for 10 days.

I have a friend up
there who is injured.

In the plane, there are
still 14 injured people.

We have to get out
of here quickly,

and we do not know how.

NANDO PARRADO: We
don't have any food.

We are weak.

When are you going
to come and fetch us?

Please.

We can't even walk.

Where are we?

For me, the most important
part is the last sentence,

where are we?

We didn't have a
clue where we were.

We knew we were in the
Andes in South America.

But that was our
reference point.

Where are we?

NANDO PARRADO: I
throw it back to him.

He reads it.

He looks at me.

Reads it again.

He say OK.

Wait.

Wait.

And he got on his horse.

But before he threw me a little
piece of bread and cheese

with I brought Roberto.

NANDO PARRADO: It
took him 10 hours

to go by horseback to
the nearest civilization.

When he got there, he got
five or six military men

on horseback from a military
post and he climbed back.

NANDO PARRADO: And when they
come back, we were so happy,

you know.

You are leaving behind horror.

You are leaving behind death.

And you embrace life again.

NANDO PARRADO: And suddenly,
reality started to hit on us,

you know.

When we saw that journalist
and news man from--

from nowhere started to appear
in the middle of the mountains.

Nando lost his family.

ROBERTO CANESSA: And I think
this was very devastating

for him.

They gave us some food.

They gave us warm soup.

I remember things like that.

And then they display
them up and say,

where are the other guys?

NANDO PARRADO: And
I draw on the map.

And they said that's Argentina.

That's it.

You couldn't have crossed
the Andes on foot.

And I said, look, I don't
know if that's Argentina.

But I know that they are there.

The distance they covered from
where the fuselage was to lose

my tennis was about 37 miles.

RICARDO PENA: We
measured it with GPS.

The problem with that number
is that these are really

long miles.

What Nando and Roberto did
still kind of blows me away

with literally no
training, no skills,

no knowledge of what they
were doing, and no equipment

somehow they survived.

I have to retest
to the expedition.

I think is just a
really inspiring example

of the human spirit
of what humans

can do in extreme
conditions when there's

that strong willed.

We heard the Uruguayan
Ambassador on the radio

that it was official that
Canessa and Parado had

appeared.

Imagine that moment.

What it was like to hear the
names Parrado and Canessa?

CARLITOS PAEZ: Because
to hear these names

was the end of our story,
the end of our pain,

the end of our fight.

It was the beginning
of our freedom.

That was what we had fought for.

Imagine what that was like.

We were like crazy
men around the radio.

It still gives me goose bumps
just thinking about it today.

Hundreds of times
and 37 years after it

happened still it
makes me emotional.

NANDO PARRADO: And that's when
they call for helicopters.

And when the helicopters
arrive, the same happened.

What are the guys?

And I draw the semicircle.

And the pilot look at me
and say, look, I will never

find them.

You have to come with us.

So it took me, put
me on the helicopter,

strapped me with seat belts,
headphones, and microphone.

And we took off.

NANDO PARRADO: The
pilot kept telling to me

I don't have enough power.

I'm too high for this
type of helicopter.

Are you sure?

Are you sure you're not lost?

No, I'm not lost.

I know where I am.

I remember the helicopter
shaking and the plexiglass

from the front vibrating.

Looked like it was
coming off the rear.

NANDO PARRADO: It's the
engine of the helicopter

was at full power.

And finally, we crossed
over to the mountains.

And then the pilot threw the
helicopter down and said, look,

it's there.

It's there.

And the fuselage
was white and white.

So until we were
about 300 yards away.

He couldn't see.

I see.

I see.

NANDO PARRADO: Two of my friends
jumped into a helicopter.

And I grabbed Daniel the
third one with my hands.

And the pilot took off.

How many do we have?

And I said three, three.

I said close the doors.

Close the door.

So I went there I
closed the door.

Closed the other door.

I said give me a break, please.

NANDO PARRADO: And this
friends of mine embraced me.

And they were crying
and shouting so happy.

You know, I remember
those smiles.

So big.

And there was a
wonderful moment, you know.

My father called
me and he was crying.

And he said Nando is
alive, Nando is alive.

He was sitting in
my bed and hugging me.

There was my father crying.

And he was saying
you were right.

He's alive.

So that-- that was the way I
knew that Roberto and Nando

had appeared.

They were asking in
Uruguay to give forth

a list of the survivors.

CARLOS PAEZ: If it's
for Uruguay then I

can give it to the country.

And then I went about uncovering
the names of the boys.

And I started Fernando
Parrado, Antonio Vizentine.

Until I came to
the name of my son.

And it's evident that I had
to hold the phone down because

of all the force of that
name and the surprise

in the marvelous feeling of
knowing that my son was alive.

I go to the door
of this old hospital.

And I was shouting
that I wanted to go in.

Nobody could stop me.

And he was very skinny,
but so beautiful.

And he held my
father, and his arms,

and he pulled him
out of the floor.

He was strong.

NANDO PARRADO: People
ask me at that moment.

Did you felt guilt
because you were alive?

I always said we
celebrated life.

You know, we didn't
have any guilt.

What?

What kind of guilt?

10 weeks ago, an airplane
with 45 people aboard.

Most of the members of a
rugby team from Uruguay

crashed on a flight
from Montevideo Uruguay

to Santiago, Chile.

REPORTER: There was a search.

But it was abandoned
several weeks ago.

Those mountains are a
graveyard for airplanes.

There 18,000 feet high.

Their icy cold and continuing
snow makes visibility

there just about zero.

And all those aboard
were given up for dead.

And then today, the
incredible happened.

Two starving,
exhausted survivors

would hike for 10 days on
their way to civilization.

I think that the biggest
psychiatrist in the world

would never find an answer to
the human behavior over there.

Would I have done
the same thing?

I think I mean, when
it came out in America,

everyone in New York was saying
how could I have behaved if I'd

been in that situation?

In Spain, for instance,
the first press releases

had titles such as the
cannibals have returned.

NANDO PARRADO: We had survive
on the flesh of our friends.

And we didn't want to hurt any
feelings from the families,

which were our families.

PIERS RAUL READ: These
survivors in the most appalling

conditions didn't
turn into savages.

They sustained one another.

They kept their faith in God.

And that God would-- would
bring some of them out of it.

I think it helped
them enormously.

That when they were in Chile
still in Chile, and in hospital

were being cared for, a
priest came by and said

you did the right thing.

And that the Catholic
Church immediately

said they did the right thing.

The survivors had
decided at this point

that they wanted a
book to be written.

And they formed a
committee to choose

the publisher and the author.

They were very afraid of what
kind of book would be written.

PIERS RAUL READ:
Inevitably the truth

showed that some
of the survivors

had performed in
a heroic manner.

And others in a
less heroic manner.

PIERS RAUL READ: But I felt that
there was no point in writing

a book unless you were
going to tell the truth.

The picture of none
of it builds up

in the book as
some unexceptional

and in the end the person
who saved them all comes

from the other characters.

It doesn't come
from Nando himself.

ROBERTO CANESSA:
It's very strange

because we came out of the
mountain with the same dreams.

I had my house, my
family, everything.

And where he
went to his house,

his pictures were at the
fireplace with that members

of his family.

NANDO PARRADO: My father
being very pragmatic

said he's not coming back.

So he gave away
my clothes to people

and he sold my motorcycle.

And he went into a very
difficult mental state.

He loved my mother
and my sister very--

very much.

He cried for them to
the end of his life.

ROBERTO CANESSA: Nando tried
to follow the normal dreams

of a young guy.

And here he was completely lost.

He-- he didn't know
what to do, where to go.

And so I don't know if he
was tougher when he was out

of the mountain or when he
was up there in the mountains.

The Andes made him
stronger because he

lost his mother and his sister.

And later, afterwards,
he continued

with such an amazing
force of will

that really isn't able to
be expressed or understood.

NANDO PARRADO: When I came back
from the Andes, I said look.

What was the most important
thing in your life before that?

Before the plane
crash, my father

was the President of the Uruguay
racing drivers association.

So he took me to the races
since I was very young.

NANDO PARRADO: So I love the
sound the cars, the racing.

And I wanted to race.

So I started racing
because I thought

it was important for me.

It has nothing to do with
the danger with fear.

No.

It has to do with what I
felt I should do in life.

I know I'm going to face
maybe some dangers today.

But I don't look back and
say, well, I had so much fear.

I want to have fear anymore.

The main reason in my
will of going out of there

was to see my family
and my father again.

I thought that naming the
highest mountain we climbed

after his name I was
kind of a gift to him.

Even though he's gone
through this tragic event,

and lost his mother,
and his sister,

you know, he decided
that rather than grieve

and completely shut down,
why not revel in life?

Why not revel in the fact
that I survived this?

ED VIESTURS: And if anything I
think he kicked it up a notch

and said, I'm going to take
advantage of this life I have

and do the things I love rather
than not do anything at all.

And through cars, I
found a beautiful girl.

NANDO PARRADO: I married her.

We have been married
for more than 30 years.

So I blessed the moment I
decided I had to race cars.

Two years ago, we all went
to the crash site together.

VERONIQUE PARRADO: It was
an incredible experience.

And I think that
in some sense, it

was a way for him to show his
daughters where they were born.

Because had Nando not walked
out, not done what he did,

they never would have been born.

So it was a way
of showing them

the beginning of their lives.

NANDO PARRADO: If I balance,
I have had a fantastic life.

I had a fantastic family.

And I'm doing what I love,
which is appreciating

the astonishing fact of
being alive every day,

every single breath.

NANDO PARRADO: We went back to
Chile with Roberto and Gustavo

and our families

And we were driving
through these dirt roads

climbing the mountains.

And suddenly, we-- we see a
man on a horse coming down

the mountain.

No one on the side
of this small road.

And we drive past him.

And it was Sergio.

NANDO PARRADO: We
recognized him.

So we stopped the car.

And drove tonight,
we ran towards him.

I say sir please, stop, stop.

And we said we are
lost can you help us.

Can you tell us where
we should go to?

NANDO PARRADO: And he looked
at us and he started crying.

I have that photograph
of Sergio and the two

of us 35 years later.

We remember him and whenever
we go and visit him.

Yes.

Ladies and gentlemen, please
welcome Mr. Nando Parrado.

NANDO PARRADO: Sometimes
it's very difficult

to speak about
oneself, you know.

But it's nice to feel
that sometimes you

can give something back.

I don't know if I have a
message I can share what I feel,

and what I learned, and what
my life has brought me to.

It's hard sometimes, you know.

Life is simpler than it looks.

For me, love is the most
important thing in the world.

The love for our
families kept us alive.

NANDO PARRADO: You
know, I would also

like to honor all of the
people that were in that plane.

Because instead
still Nando here,

Marcelo would be here Guido.

You know, Arturo,
Alexis, Gaston.

Why am I here and not them?

That's one of the questions
that we'll never have an answer.

I sincerely I wish that you were
here, that we would have never

boarded that airplane.

You know, I send you
the biggest and warmest

embrace I could keep
whatever you are

and you're always in my heart.