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Surviving Andes plane crash

How 16 young men survived a plane crash and two months in the freezing Andes by eating the remains of their dead friends.

When a plane carrying a team of young rugby players crashed into the Andes mountains in 1972, search teams soon gave up hope.

But two months later, 16 passengers of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 emerged alive.

The events became known as ‘The Miracle of the Andes’ and have previously been told in documentaries and films including Society of the Snow.

One horrifying detail continues to fascinate audiences - the starving men were only able to stay alive by eating the bodies of those who died.

In 2009, Nando Parrado told Louise Hidalgo about their extraordinary story of survival.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

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(Photo: Wreckage of the plane in the Andes. Credit: Bettmann/Contributor)

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9 minutes

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Wed 18 Dec 2024 03:50GMT

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