On Friday the 13th of October 1972, a plane carrying a Uruguayan rugby team crashed in a remote area of the Argentinian Andes during the heart of the snowy season. A search was abandoned after only 10 days and all aboard were presumed dead. But of the 45 passengers and crew, 32 had survived the initial impact. For 72 unimaginable days and nights they endured starvation, sub-zero temperatures, and even an avalanche. The bodies of the dead became the survivors' only source of food. And all attempts at saving themselves proved hopeless. Then, just before Christmas, the world was stunned when two emaciated men emerged from the mountains, having travelled on foot for 10 days and leaving 14 more survivors back at the crash site. The unthinkable ordeal of the Andes survivors is one of the greatest examples of human endurance in recorded history. Now, on its 50th anniversary, an expedition that includes one of the survivors returns to the remote crash site in summer, where glacial melting and the effects of climate change have stripped the area of snow and ice. With this dramatic transformation, the site has begun revealing long-hidden secrets.
The Andes Tragedy: 50 Years Later was broadcast on SBS ONE at Sunday 30 April 2023, 10:31.
