"LIVE" 36 YEARS LATER

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The 16 survivors of the Uruguayan air crash in the Andes met, 36 years later, to tell its history, which has been reported in a shocking book By Moises Avila Roldan.

The special envoy by EL Comercio "Nobody piloted?" Gustavo Zerbino was walking restless by the plane. He was uneasy and breathable. That's why he joined, and walked towards the cockpit. He found talking to the pilots, and taking mirándose mate. Given his concerns, they replied that they did not have to worry about, then traveled on a ship last generation, with an "automatic pilot who walks almost alone." Did little to the Fairchild 517 of the Uruguayan Air Force had taken off from the airport Plumerillo, in Mendoza, Argentina, where he arrived from Montevideo, in technical stopover, to continue its course towards Santiago de Chile.

The ship was carrying 45 people, including crew and passengers, most of them members of the selection of amateur rugby in the Stella Maris College Old Christians. Minutes before taking off from Mendoza, Gustavo had been approached to chat with the wife of Dr. Francisco Nicola, a doctor of choice, to say that had the feeling that the airplane was going to fall. His intention was to receive a sentence of mind. Far from doing so, Esther assured him that he thought the same thing. While not commented on with anyone else, were not the only ones with that feeling. Liliana, wife of Javier Methol, a couple of friends of the players, also had told his wife that he was afraid. He was upset with her.

It was 1:20 in the afternoon and the plane started to cross the Andes Mountains. Ran 1972. Friday October 13 1972. THE ACCIDENT "Gentlemen, aprontémonos, because we are going to dance for a while." Fairchild's pilots detected a front storm while crossing the ridge, preferring to alert its passengers to avoid the inconvenience. But on the plane everything was a joke. For many of the passengers was his first outing of Uruguay, and were overwhelmed by the euphoria. "Ole, ole," were the cries of the boys after the first shocks to the plane. "Please Atens belts can be distributed so that no dead bodies," said one of them, generating the collective hilarity. But the second cut remezón them the joy of coup. Two of the crew of the ship running from side to side with the navigation chart in their hands.

The beautiful spectacle of the snowy mountains seen from the windows was about to become a horror film. One of 71 interminable days. Out of control, the Fairchild hit with the peaks of mountains, broke and fell between the rocks and ice. Then, everything was in the most absolute silence.

The meeting 36 years have passed since the tragedy happened in the Andes, one of the most remembered in the history of aviation. And this is the first time someone succeeds in bringing the 16 people who survived the accident, so they have not said anything that in due course. While many details are known through the book and movie "Live", this was put together with the testimony of a few.

In this case, the journalist Paul Vierci, former companion of school for most survivors, convinced everyone. "Why after all this time, because they feel the need to give back to society what it gave them a second chance to live. This is the denouement, the end point to this story," he explains. All stories, one by one, are in "The Society of The Snow", a book that Vierci introduced recently in Montevideo, accompanied by all his players. Part of these testimonies were in the documentary "I come from a plane that fell in the mountains" of Gonzalo Arijón.

JUMP TO AN EMPTY. Eating with the bodies of the deceased was, according to testimony, as a leap into the void that everyone decided to give. Some with more conviction, and others because they had no other choice. "They gave us their muscles to keep walking, and that's what we had assumed everyone," explained Gustavo Zerbino. Some of the 'rugbistas' say it was something similar to a communion. The delivery of the body and blood of his friends to give them life. They also were offered as food if they played to die. It was his way of contributing to the rest lived. Some of the bodies had to be eaten completely, taking advantage of all the organs and the vitamins they contain, to stand. Even the calcium from the bones. There was a time when one of the survivors came to feel hungry to see the wounds of one of their comrades.

THE FINAL ISSUE Fernando Parrado and Roberto Canessa were both members of the "society" which had to venture out and go for help. Armed with meat wrapped in eight middle, along with Tintin Vizintín left, walking toward the west, with the compass that had been extracted from the cockpit of the plane. Vizintín had to return to the fuselage, leaving its supplies to the two who were continuing. After walking for ten days, avoiding mountains of more than 4 thousand meters in height, were found with the mule Chilean Sergio Catalan. The mule and the climbers were separated by the bed of a river. It was night and told them that the Chilean again the next day, to see what they needed. At dawn, Catalan arrived with a sheet of paper. The wrapped in a rock and tied it in a pencil, to write Canessa and Parrado. "I come from a plane that fell in the mountains. I am Uruguayan. Ten days ago we're walking. I have a friend shot up. On board were 14 people injured. We have to get out of here fast and we do not know how. We have no food. We are weak. When we are going to look up? Please, we can not walk, where are we? "Was the text that came back into the hands of the mule.

Catalan them made a sign with his finger and left winging toward the top of the Carabineros, who remained as a half day on horseback. Then, who would own Parrado, aboard a helicopter, guided the Chilean pilots to the exact place where their friends. To see them, nor the hardest soldier could contain the tears. It was like witnessing a resurrection.

THE DRAMA OF FAMILIES Many families are not stopped searching for their children. One of them was the father of Carlitos Paez, Don Carlos Paez Vilaró, who received notice that he had survived the crash just as he was about to embark on Santiago back to Montevideo, in a search of his travels. Neither stopped to do the father of Roberto Canessa, least of all mothers. A day before his departure, the mother of Daniel Fernandez had prepared a dessert that her son liked him so much, strawberry tart. "Save it to me in the freezer as that on Monday when they return," he said.

Two and a half months later, on Dec. 24, when he returned, rescued from the mountains, his mother took out the cake of the 'freezer', intact, because it had not allowed anyone to play, and reminded him that he had dessert served in the table. The second death The survivors had a radio with batteries listening to the morning, especially when the newscast. It was through her that, on the tenth day of the accident, they learned that they are no longer wanted. Parrado and Canessa when they went to seek help, they heard these names on the news, along with the word survivor, but the signal was lost, and they did not know whether they had emerged alive or dead. So which came a clear signal to the Ave Maria by Schubert. For them, was enough to know that they were saved.

( Comment from Oscar Granda)

A great history of this air crash in the Andes, where the behavior of human being was probed in all your senses. They survived because they never left die. They LIVE !