A wave of nausea and silence. Then Nando Parrado, his skull still fractured from the crash, said slowly, "If my mother… if she could give her body so that I live… she would. I know that."
On October 13, 1972, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 was a ribbon of metal and hope cutting through the Andes. Inside, the Old Christians rugby team, their friends, and family laughed, sang, and tossed crumpled paper balls at each other. They were young. They were invincible. Nando Parrado was showing a photograph of his mother and sister to a friend. Roberto Canessa, a medical student, was dozing, dreaming of the sea. Searching for- Society of the snow in-All Categ...
Over two days, all 16 remaining survivors were lifted out. They had spent 72 days in hell. They had eaten their own dead. They had walked through the spine of the Andes. A wave of nausea and silence
After that, they moved to the rear of the plane—the tail section, still intact. There, they found a miracle: a small transistor radio. And on that radio, they heard the news: "The search for Flight 571 has ended. No survivors." Inside, the Old Christians rugby team, their friends,
Every year, on October 13, they meet. They eat together. They laugh. They remember the 29 who did not come home. And Roberto Canessa, now a cardiologist, often ends the toast the same way: