Society of the Snow: in 1972, 16 men survived an Andes plane crash that should have killed them. Here's how
On October 13, 1972, a plane with forty-five people on board took off from Montevideo in Uruguay. Its destination was supposed to be Chile, but it never arrived.
Instead, the plane crashed horrifically deep in the Andes mountains. Astonishingly, a remarkable 33 survivors found themselves facing the prospect of a bitter winter in the mountains, completely alone. How do you survive being stranded in the middle of the Andes? For those left on Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, the answer involved courage, tenacity, and eating the bodies of their dead comrades.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because these real-life events inspired the plot of 1993 film Alive. And now, thirty years on from the thriller's release, the story of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 is being made into another, Spanish-language film.
Society of the Snow offers a harrowing look at the strength and courage it took to survive in one of the most inhospitable places on earth. Many of the details are so incredible they defy belief – the initial crash, and the setbacks that followed – here’s what you
