Roberto Canessa (Plane Crash)

      I heard an amazing story about a terrible plane crash in the Andes mountains on Friday the 13th 1972, when 16 amazing people survived the deadly, freezing mountains of lower South America. I met a man that survived this experience, and I got to hear the story first hand. The Uruguaian rugby players, who were traveling to Chile for a game, were excited to see snow for the time in their lives, but little did they know some of them would be seeing only snow for 72 days. To get to Chile from Uruguay, they had to cross the Andes, a towering mountain range of nothing but snow, ice, and a coldness that almost nobody could survive.
        As the plane started over the mountains, a huge storm was heading straight at them. In a couple of minutes, the plane was completely engulfed in the terrible grey fog. Suddenly the plane hit an air pocket. The 19-year-olds had no idea what it was, so they all started cheering and laughing as the small plane shook violently. The pilot's voice came up above all of the pandomonium and told the passengers to fasten their seatbelts, for it was going to get bumpy. The passengers stared out the windows at the rocks that were barely 3 meters away. "Guys," said one rugby player,"This isn't a jo-" Suddenly the plane hit another air pocket and everybody jerked against the seat in front of them. People started to scream and cry, everybody ducked down and prepared for the crash.
        That was how it was on that deadly day in 1972. Only about 30 out of the original 45 passengers survived the first 20 seconds of the crash. The back of the plane hit the top of a peak and the whole tail ripped off. The wings crashed into two other rocks and broke off as if it was a cheap toy. Nature was telling the people in the plane that it was stronger than them. Way stronger than them. Nobody could even scream as fear filled their bodies. The body of the plane slid down the mountain at unthinkable speeds, getting within one meter of the rocks beside them. The passengers knew that if they hit one of those rocks, they would all die instantly. Everybody held on for the final blow that would explode the plane and kill everyone. But that final crash didn't happen like they thought it would. The body of the plane slid down the steep mountain until it smashed into a snow mound. The passengers slammed against the seat in front of them, some of them dying instantly. The plane was turned on its side, and everything was destroyed. Roberto was one of the ones in the plane at this time, and he told me as he looked around at the wreckage, he saw dead bodies scattered around everywhere, and heard people screaming in pain. He felt his swollen red face and tried to get out of the horrible wreckage. He looked down and saw one of his good friend's mother dead from the crash. Roberto pulled himself out of the wrekage and stumbled outside, expecting to see ambulences and police officers running towards him, ready to take him to the hospital. But what he did see stabbed him in the heart. It was all white and black. He fell to his knees, in the background he heard cries of pain, and he knew he wold rather die then be in this situation.
        Only about 30 people lived. The unlucky ones. The rest were dead. The lucky ones. That's how the survivors thought. Death was a reward in this situation, Nobody even thought about why they wanted to live until the second day, but I havn't gotten to the second day yet. In the Andes mountains, you can not even guess how cold it is at night. If you stick your bare foot outside the fusilage in the open air, it would freeze almost immediatly. Inside the fusilage, all the survivors crammed together, trying to share valuable body heat. It was worse then anything you could ever imagine in your wildest imagination. You would find a random person that you didn't even know, and hug them until they either died, or the light came. All of the severely wounded died that night, leaving about 25 living people. The morning light was a tremendous relief, and the rugby players and their family members thought for sure that the worst was over. All they had to do was wait for the rescuers to come, but just in case, the survivors rationed the food and drinks severely. Each day a person would get one square of chocolate and one capful of liquer, causing them to start to be hungry. One day went by, two days went by, three days went by, but there were no rescuers yet. They got the radio to work finally, and they heard that there were helicopters looking for them. On the eigth day, the starving, freezing survivors heard on the radio that they would be calling off the search due to severe weather. That drained every last bit of hope out of them. Actually, I don't think that is possible. Every person has some hope left in them, even in the worst situations. The people had reasons to get home, Dr. Canessa's reason was his mom and his girlfriend. He felt like he could not betray them and give up, even though it would be tough.
         The amazing people held on to that ounce of hope, and lived for 72 days off of it. Most of them, that is. Several days after the crash, sombody noticed a plane flying over the wreckage. Everybody jumped and screamed to get the plane's attention, but it did no good. The people looked like tiny pebbles to the plane, and it flew right past. Think how that would have felt. To be trapped in the horrible hands of nature and snow, and your only chance of survival flew right out of reach. Life in the mountains went on as usuall, but little did those people know, the worst was yet to come.
        After nearly starving to death from lack of nutrition, the dying people thought of something that was only possible to think in this terrible  situation. They thought of using the dead bodies of their teammates and friends for their own nutrition. The survivors knew that it was an unthinkable decision, but it was the only way to survive. It took days for everybody to start doing it, but in the end everybody knew that it was that or die. There was only one problem, would these dead people be okay with it? Finally the starving survivors thought that if Jesus could give his body to us, the dead people would be willing to give their bodies. It was terrible event after terrible event, as the struggle for life carried on.
         They had to make water out of snow, sunglasses from the piolet's visors and scraps of plastic (Snow can blind you if you don't have sunglasses.), and matresses out of the ripped up seat cushions. Nobody was ever warm at night, for the passengers had been dressed for the summer, not these 100 degree below 0 weather. They had to layer all the clothes that they could find, improvise or die. One night, the shivering, unconfortable people heard a gigantic herd of horses galloping full speed down the mountain sraight at the fusilage. One by one people started getting up and listening more intently. It was getting louder, and louder, and suddenly, CRASH! The avalanche slammed with incredible force right into the body of the plane. One second everything was bad, and now it was absolutly terrible. The fusilage filled with snow, and everybody was completely buried. Dr. Canessa said that only his fingers were out of the snow, and he coldn't move at all. He felt that he was suffoating quickly. Right as he was about to let himself join half of his friends in heaven, he felt a hand touch his face. Breathing again was like finding a billion dollars, and he realized he was being uncovered! After he was dug out of his near grave, he helped dig out the others.
        Unfortunatly, eight more people lost their lives to the terrible force of nature. All the beds were covered, all the valuble supplies was lost. But nobody was worried about that right now, what they were worried about was oxygen. The plane was comletely submerged in the snow, and the freezing men were breathing heavily. If they didn't find a way to get oxygen quick, all hope was lost. A man started poking a hole in the top of the fusilage, so that oxygen could enter, but the men were going to have to get out somehow. How will these men survive?