Rotten Mango - #71: Cannibal Mountain (Case - Uruguayan Rugby Team)

Episode Date: June 10, 2021

“What’s the last thing you ate?” the doctor asked.  All 16 of them responded the same - “human flesh.” A plane of 45 passengers had crashed into the side of a snow covered mountain in the Andes. Yes, it’s freezing, they were only wearing t-shirts, and many were wounded if not dead - but, they will be rescued soon.  That was what they put their faith in. But they were wrong. They wouldn’t be rescued for another 72 days and only 16 would get out alive.  Source Notes: rottenmangopodcast.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rambles. Whether you're doing a dance to your favorite artist in the office parking lot, or being guided into Warrior I in the break room before your shift, whether you're running on your Peloton tread at your mom's house while she watches the baby, or counting your breaths on the subway. Peloton is for all of us, wherever we are, whenever we need it. Download the free Peloton is for all of us. Wherever we are, whenever we need it, download the free Peloton app today. Peloton app available through free tier or pay to description starting at 12.99 per month. But being but a boom.

Would you ever eat your friend? That's a little bit odd. Maybe you would. What kind of friend? What kind of eating? What are we talking about being more specific? If you were stranded on an island, this is like a question that everybody asked. Hey, Johnny, if we were stranded on an island together, would you try to eat my leg as food? What if we had no other food? What would you do?

And then your friend is like, I would never do that to you. They're all freaking weird. Why are you so tall, it's like that, honey. I feel like that was me in elementary school. Okay, I asked every single boyfriend, I was like, would you ever eat my leg if we were stranded on the island and if they ever even said yes Or just go home crying and be like this isn't true love. They don't love me enough Would you eat your friend that is the question of the day? So I'm gonna drop you into the middle of today's scene the on these mountains I hope that I'm saying that right. This is one of the longest mountain ranges in the world

It spans across seven different countries in South America. The average height of a mountain is about 13,000 feet Which for me whenever I hear about these like mountain climbing stories, I'm like oh 13,000 feet I could totally do that. That sounds easy easy breezy cover girl Then I Google it 13,000 feet is about 1300 Stories in a building right now the tallest skyscraper in Dubai stands at about 160 something stories. This is insane. The highest mountain and... Nobody climbs that. They do? They climb out Everest. That's right, that's right. Yes. Wow. Yeah. For fun.

For fun. The climate for fun. The highest is in Argentina, the highest point. It's about 22,838 feet above sea level. This is the highest mountain outside of Asia. Now, this mountain range is crazy. The Amazon River begins in this mountain range. This mountain range was formed 140 million years ago.

This is one of those moments where you look at it and you're just terrified of Mother Nature. Do you guys have those moments? This is it. What makes it even scarier is that the climate is known to change drastically in rather short distances. So you could have a rainforest that just exists, completely humid, got the whole ecosystem.

You go three miles west, just complete snow covered mountains for as far as you can see. One of the tallest volcanoes is in this mountain range, and it's not just the mountains that are scary, because you're thinking, well, when am I ever going to go into the mountains like that? Like, that's un-scary! Why would I do that? But even flying through the mountains, which is necessary in a lot of different routes, is terrifying, is dangerous. Definitely more dangerous than flying over the Bermuda triangle in my opinion, which I know is known for being like one of the craziest spots, but the weather is the biggest problem here.

So from the east you have these hot, hot currents of air that just keep rising and rising, and then you've got all of this ice that's coming down from the snow line, and then from the west, you've got all these weird, just almost like cyclone winds that are just going in circles. So you've got this hot and cold, just wind that's mixing together. And if your plane gets stuck in this, it's the type of turbulence where you will be thrown around like a rag doll. It's like a leaf in a leaf blower.

And people still fly over there? Yes. And one specific plane that flew over this to get from Uruguay to Chile had 15 members of a rugby team. These were all boys ranging from 17 to 26 years old, 25 of these boys closest friends and family members. And all of them came from prominent families in Uruguay and five crew members.

So 45 total passengers decide to cross the mountain range to get to a different country because they had a rugby match. That day that they were scheduled to fly out, they couldn't fly out till about 1 p.m. to cross the on these mountains, which is probably the worst time of day to fly out in terms of weather conditions and people usually frown upon it, but the aircraft can fly pretty high and it was suspected that if they fly high enough over the turbulence they won't feel any of it. They're just gonna fly right on top. Now it wasn't just the whining of the rugby boys that made the pilot and the co-pilot decide we got to get on to this plane ASAP. There was just a lot of different forces that play. So this aircraft was an Air Force aircraft from Uruguay.

This is like a military aircraft and this cannot stay on foreign soil for more than 24 hours and they are already made a layover because of bad weather. So if they didn't go to Chile now, they would actually have to head back to Uruguay and start this whole process all over again. That's a terrible decision to make. And they also met up with some pilots that had just crossed the mountain range and they said, don't even worry about it. One of the pilots was even like, there was literally no turbulence that I suggest you take a shortcut through some of the more dangerous parts of the mountains because, I mean, it's really that chill and breezy right now. Absolutely nothing in the wind. I mean, I've got this really old cargo plane.

You've got an amazing, beautiful, pretty much brand, spankin' new military aircraft. I would take the shortcut. So the pilot and the crew and the rug between the all-board the plane and the boys start going crazy, okay? This is like their vacation. They're doing this match in Chile.

They're like throwing rugby balls around their playing cards. And almost instantly when they reach the mountains, they're not taking the shortcut, by the way. They're going the safe route over the mountains, they start experiencing turbulence. Now the kids again, they're still chilling for whatever reason, they're not to start by this at all, which they should be because a couple months ago, an entire cargo plane with six crew members had disappeared in these exact mountains. The wreck was still never found.

But they're chilling, one of them even grabs hold of the mic and is like, hey ladies and gentlemen, we've hit turbulence. Please put on your parachutes and get ready to jump. This usually would have been passed off as a really comical joke, except the audience was not having it because almost instantly they hit an air pocket and the plane drops several hundred feet. Holy moly. an air pocket and the plane drops several hundred feet. Holy moly.

And even then, all of the kids are still just hanging out. Some of them are reading books, some of them are still playing with cards, and Nando, who is a very pinnacle part of the story, his name's Nando, he was sitting in the aisle seat and his best friend of like years was sitting in the window seat, and his best friend is like, hey Nando,

can you look out the window? Is it this normal to be this close to the mountains? And he's kind of laughing it off. So Nando peers outside, and the mountain was no more than 10 feet away from the tip of that wing. I don't think so. The minute that he says that, the engine starts roaring, the plane starts vibrating, and the plane tries to fly higher so that it can avoid this turbulence, but then suddenly, the right wing of the plane crashes into the side of the mountain completely breaks off.

Does this spin? It's the tail of the plane. Now the complete tail of the plane has broken off. What does that mean? That means there is a gaping hole at the back of this cabin. Just a hole. Oh my goodness. So people start falling of this cabin. So people start falling off this hole.

The steward, the navigator, three of the boys that were still seat belted to their seat. The entire seat gets dismounted and falls, free falls into the mountain. A moment later, the left wing breaks off and a blade of the propeller rips into the main body of the airplane before falling off into the main body of the airplane before falling off to the ground. And inside what remained in the main cabin, I mean, it was just people shrieking, it was people sobbing. Just crying for help. I mean, prayers. There was so much going on. This plane has no wings, no tail, and they're headed straight for a mountain.

A snow-covered mountain in the middle of the Andes. During this process, two more boys were sucked out of the back of the plane and as they're headed for the mountain, the plane is breaking. It's trying its best to try to somehow cushion this fall. It caused all of the seeds to come loose from their mounting and move forward, which means all of these passengers were getting crushed, like a little sandwich. Every seat was getting dislodged and slammed into the one in front of it.

Goodness. How do you even survive something like that? And instead of smashing into the mountain, the plane by some crazy luck. Like a little torpedo lands on its belly into the snow on the side. On the side of the mountain, and it just keeps flying like a torpedo on the snow and then eventually it comes to an halt. And they said immediately you just feel this freezing air rushing through the cabin. I mean these guys they were in short sleeves, they were headed for like a spring vacation. They had shorts on, they're like rugby players, they're like, we don't need jackets. You know, some of them need to have...

They're all alive and conscious at this point. Not all. You know, some of them maybe had jackets in their luggage, but it seemed like a lot of the luggage had just fallen off the tail of the plane. And even then, their jackets were so light. These are sub-zero temperatures we're talking about. At night, it was negative 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

A light jacket's not going to help you. The passengers who did not pass out from this crash, they were relatively stuck between the metal and the plastic of all the seats being crushed together. They try undoing their safety belts, they try standing up. One of the med students was the first to get up and he starts just screaming. Jesus, Jesus like albus, albus, a lot of these boys were raised Roman Catholic, which becomes really important later. Another of the boys starts saying a Hail Mary prayer, and slowly from the silence, the cabin starts coming to life, but not in the way that you would want. Just in groans, and then a moan here, and prayers here, cries for help, and then just like

the sound of shrieks from the passengers, like help me help me. The boys that could easily stand, they start helping the others out of their seats that were all crushed together. They found the rugby team captain Marcelo, who by the way is like an amazing team captain for all of them and they just trusted him. He was one of the first people that they looked for. They wanted to know what do we do now. Like he's still there captain out of the rugby field in this plane, in this crash.

He stands up, he starts telling, okay, we've got how many medical students aboard? They had three medical students, they were all alive. Get up, we need to get you guys to start looking at all of these injuries. They had a few years in medical school, so they could help a little bit. They could make some bandages from like the back

of the seat covers, but they really only had dedicated most of their studies to psychology and sociology at this point. So there wasn't really that much medical knowledge. They started examining all of these bodies, the first dead body that they found belonged to Eugenia Pareto, the mother of Nando, one of the rugby players, and she had been crushed on impact

and she was pronounced dead. Besides her, there were two other passengers who had died instantly from the impacts, and one of them was the doctor of their team and his wife. So the real doctor had died. The kids start looking around, feeling for pulses, trying to find out how to take everyone out of their seats without hurting people more because they're all just slammed on top of each other. This is like human tetris at this point, but everyone's in pain, everyone's screaming. Another boy had his calf completely torn off and it was

twisted around his leg like a scarf. His leg bones were completely exposed. They tried to bind it with a white shirt. That's all they had. They didn't have any medical supplies. They said, tie a white shirt around it. That's all we can do for you. So the boys immediately once they get out from their seats, they start running to the opening. They're like, it smells like gas in here. a white shirt around it. That's all we can do for you. Some of the boys immediately once they get out from their seats, they start running to the opening. They're like, it smells like gas in here. This thing is gonna blow up. We're gonna get out of here and they're rushing everyone. Come on, come on, we gotta run. We gotta get out of here. And they jump off the back of the plane and they land thigh high. Some of them waist high in snow. And they look around and I think this is the moment where

everything starts setting in for these people. It's completely isolated. All they can see, they don't even see one road. They don't even see one patch of green. Everything is just snow-covered mountains for as long as they can see. They don't see one bird flying. They don't see one blade of grass, nothing. Just them and just snow. They were about 7,000 feet high on this mountain and they were nowhere near the top of this mountain but they were 7,000 feet to put that in perspective.

That's about 700 stories of a building. They go back inside and they realize that a lot of the passengers were so cold. Once they had been released from the human tetris, I mean they're just freezing their ass off. A lot of the boys get together, they're like, we gotta find our luggage. I mean, it fell off the back of the plane when we were flying and all those people fell off too.

Maybe it's somewhere out there. They start walking in this thigh, high, deep snow and they see their friend, their friend that had fallen out of the plane before they crash. They're like Carlos! He's like at the bottom of the mountain. They're like Carlos! They're waving their arms, but the wind was so strong that Carlos did not see them. And they could see him looking for the plane, like looking left, looking right, trying to find his friends. But he didn't see them. The plane is completely white, and at this point,

it was buried in snow. Oh, so he didn't see his friends either? They're waving. They're trying to run to him, but there was no way. And they see him walk in the opposite direction away from them. He would be found dead later. One of the kids had a steel pipe sticking out of his stomach.

So he runs up to Roberto, which is one of the bed students, and he says, Roberto, what should I do about this? And even in this moment, they're trying to keep their morale high. And Roberto says, oh, you're not even that bad. There's people in that plane that are so worse than come here. And he reaches over, grabs the steel pipe pipe and just takes it out of his stomach and Outcomes about six inches of what they thought were his intestines That boy did not even cry and they tie him up with a shirt

They tie him up with a shirt and this kid is like yeah, I'm gonna start helping the other kids get out of their chairs now With this shirt and his intestines tied around his stomach, he starts helping his friends. Another one of the boys that was helping was Pedro, and he was moving all of these chairs because he wasn't that injured physically. So he's like, oh, I've got all this strength and I don't have any broken limbs. Let me move these chairs. And as he's doing this, he stops every two seconds and he goes, what are we? Pedro, where on the plane?

What, why are we on a plane? Pedro, we're going to a rugby match in the plane crashed. A rugby match? Where a rugby match? Do you not remember anything? No? I don't, I mean, I know you guys, but I don't know why I'm on this plane. I didn't know we had a rugby match. And he would start lifting the chairs up in a couple minutes.

What? Where are we guys? Pedro, we're on a plane. Now, because they had all of the wounded out and they still had people trapped in the chairs, it started getting to the point where it was becoming dangerous. They were taking out more chairs and kind of tossing it to the side of the plane. It was so cramped that it would hit a wounded person and they'd be like, Ow, you're injuring me more! Now they needed a protocol. They're going to bring out all the wounded outside in the snow so they can rest.

They can just do all of these things and we're going to take out all of the seats. Now all of this is temporary. You guys know that, right? You know, all of this is so temporary because we're gonna be rescued soon. It's obvious. The plane is no longer contacting air traffic control. They're gonna realize, well, they lost, they lost contact at this part of the Andes. We're gonna find them. Let's rescue them. But one of the kids was brilliant. He's like, well, wouldn't it be easier to rescue us if we could tell them where we are and give them some Location details. It'd be faster. Where's the radio? Which would probably be in the cockpit, right?

Okay, they try to open the cockpit door from inside the plane and it's just smashed shut. There is no getting in. Okay, okay, that's fine. That's fine. We can go through the outside of the plane. You know, walk around the outside, we can look through the windows, try to tell the pilot, like, hey, are you calling them? Are they coming? What's going on? Call radio them, let's do it. When they jump outside the plane, again, they're completely covered in snow. They can't even take a step because it comes up to their waist.

How do you even lift your leg that high? So all of them are like, we got to think, we got to think, we can't just do this, we can't give up, we got to get to their waist. How do you even lift your leg that high? So all of them are like, we gotta think, we gotta think, we can't just do this, we can't give up, we gotta get to the pilots. Give me a seat cushion. They throw a seat cushion onto the snow, use it as a stepping stone, use another seat cushion, and they just hop, hop, hop to the front of the plane. Now, the nose of this plane had been completely crushed.

They could still see through the window, the pilots were trapped in their seats with instruments from the dash, like just steel pipes from the dash sticking through their chest. They could not move out of their seat if they wanted to. Are they dead or alive? The main pilot was dead and the co-pilot was alive and he was begging them for help. They immediately tried to move his body around, but there was just nothing that they could do. He could only move about half an inch. Nothing would bulge. This steel pipe was just so deep embedded in his chest. There was absolutely nothing. The only thing that they could do was remove the back cushion to provide some relief in his chest, and that

was it. Now this is the really sad part, and this gets a little bit controversial. He kept begging them. Can you please go into my suitcase and get me my revolver? Why would you need your revolver? Well, don't you see kids? I'm gonna die and I'm in pain. Can you please get me my revolver? We can't do that. We're Roman Catholics, and we can't help you commit suicide. And they tried to help him feel better. They start feeding him snow because everyone was thirsty at this point. They had lost so much blood.

They were in shock. Snow was the only form of water. They find out that the radio isn't working. The copilot tells them the radio's not working. I don't know what to tell you. They go back into the plane and they start helping all of the other passengers. By the time it's 6 p.m., it's almost dark and the temperature was below freezing. They count all of the survivors and only 32 of the 45 had survived.

But they thought to themselves, okay, well it's night time, so of course they're not going to rescue us at night. It'd be so dangerous and they can't see well. We'll just wait till the morning. All we have to do is stick it out one night. Yes, it's a freezing But one night is all we need But they were wrong. They would not be rescued for another 72 days and only 16 of them would be found alive Oh my god Who are these kids? I think it really focuses around the rugby team and I think rugby has

a really big part in this whole story. There is an old Christian's club in Uruguay and the main premise of this club is for playing rugby on Sunday afternoon. That's pretty much it. A lot of the members graduated from the same all-boy school called Stella Maris College. This school was founded by Irish brothers who were obsessed with rugby. They immigrated to Uruguay and they were like, why is this country so obsessed with soccer? Soccer is for pre-Madonna's, that's what they said. I don't really know what that means.

It's for pre-Madonna's and rugby is a real team sport. Rugby, you don't have helmets, you don't have safety gear. It's all about loyalty, teamwork, strength, trust. We're gonna teach rugby at our school for boys because that's how you raise a boy. That was like their thing. So everyone in that school plays rugby. Now, I don't know if it's a school,

but somewhere, somewhere along the line, rugby got really popular in York way and the team, the old Christian club, they started winning a lot of competitions, a lot of championships. they started doing exhibitions and competitions in Chile and Argentina they started traveling for this now this specific exhibition that they were headed to it was almost like a vacation for them I mean it was less of a match it's an exhibition so there's really not a

winner you just play you just enjoy your time and on top of that the country of Chile was in an economic turmoil. And Uruguay was using the US dollar. Well, a lot of these kids were, because they were from prominent families in Uruguay. So they're on the US dollar. That US dollar is going to take them really far in Chile. So they're like, this is a vacation.

We're going to get the most bang-fart buck. We're going to have such a good time. We're going to live like kings over there. Are you kidding me? I mean, what? The team even got a fair child F227 from the Uruguayan Air Force to take them. The Air Force, this is a military aircraft.

It had about 40 seats in there and if they could fill every single one of them, it would only cost each seat $40, which is crazy affordable. They start going to all their friends and family. They're like, come on, we only got 15 team members. We got like a doctor, but we've had so many seats to fill. Why don't you come?

It's like a vacation. Come on, mom. Come on, cousin. Come on, sister. Let's go. It'll be so fun. And mostly, they all agreed. So the flight consisted of the rugby team.

The boys were aged between 17 to 26 years old. Three of them were medical students, a middle aged woman by the name of Maryana. Now she was not at all associated with these kids. She just thought this was such a cheap ticket and she had a wedding to go to. This is perfect, cheap airfare. Then we had Liliana and Javier. They were a married couple.

This was their 12th anniversary. They all have four kids together. They're like, this is perfect. We're going to, this is perfect. We're gonna get this cheap flight. Have fun and chill. Come back, take care of our kids. A parental vacation.

And when they left from Uruguay, all 45 passengers and the crew people and the luggage, they were excited. I mean, the pilot had served the Air Force for more than 20 years. They flew this road over 29 times. This was gonna be easy for them. Even though it's super dangerous. Now the first initial flight had to make an emergency landing in Mendoza. Because the weather was that bad.

It was at that layover that the kids started getting angsty. They were like, we've only got five days for the vacation. Come on, we're supposed to be there. Let's go, let's go, let's go. We don't want to go back to Uruguay. Now we got to go back, like, they just kept pressuring the pilots. All of the other pilots in Mendoza were like, it fine you're gonna be fine so they took off and they crashed back to the plane crash there was barely any space on the plane all of the debris all of the

chairs stacked up and all of these kids I mean you could barely stand up you guys know planes are so cramped there's really no space let alone lay down none of them could lay down and sleep that night. Only the entrance had to be cleared of all the chairs and debris. They tried to make this little suitcase barrier because this wind and the snow was so intense. I mean, they were freezing, but every two seconds that suitcase barrier would just plop down. And the person who would go up to fix it, their fingers would be so numb. Their arms would be so frozen that when they get back to their original seating area,

they would have to be punched by their teammates, so that the circulation would come back to their arms. They find a couple bottles of wine and all of the passengers start just gulping it down. Just without a thawed in the world, a care in the world, we've got to keep warm. The only thing that's going to keep us warm is if we get a little bit drunk. Alcohol brings out the world. We gotta keep warm. The only thing that's gonna keep us warm is if we get a little bit drunk. Alcohol brings out the heat. They start punching each other and massaging each other. They try to make little blankets out of the seat covers, but it's super thin, but it's all they had. I know we're talking about these winter storms, but summer is almost upon us. As your wardrobe ready, what better way to get into the carefree spirit of summer than with a brand whose apparel and accessories are all about that laid back living and enjoying

life to the fullest. Let me tell you about Pira Vida. They have fair trade apparel and artisan made accessories that are comfortable, casual, eco friendly, and they just look so cute. It just reminds me of summer. Every piece on their website you look at it and you're like, this is what summer feels like in a bracelet! Just wearing it makes me so happy!

The brand was started by two California surfers who went to Costa Rica and fell in love with the art and the laid back lifestyle and they began partnering with Costa Rican artisans to create these beautifully braided bracelets and they sell millions every single year. And a portion of what they make goes back to causes that you care about because they partner with over 200 charities worldwide. I'm obsessed with their clothing and accessories. They just lift some mood. I love wearing jewelry where every time I look at it, it's less of just, oh, that's really pretty to the eye, but more of like this emotion that I feel. They've got these colorful graphic teas, crop tops, hoodies. They also have one of a kind tie dyes that are so fun to wear that express your personality. They have over 200 styles in their summer catalog. And just the material that it's made out of is buttery soft. And it's super affordable. I mean, brisely, it started $6, rings started $12. I love buying several of them, stacking, mixing, matching,

it just looks cutie the way. And they're waterproof. So I don't have to worry about taking them off before I dip into the pool or even take a bath or shower. They also have hassle free returns on all the clothing and here's the coolest part. They've already donated $3.5 million to charity, including $35,000 donated in disaster relief in 2020 alone. Pure Vita, look good and do good. To get 20% off of your pure Vita order, text mango to 38817.

That's mango to 38817. To get 20% off at Pierre Vita, turn supply. Available at Pierre Vita bracelets.com slash terms. Text mango to 38817. And instantly the hysteria sinks in once the sun sets Everyone on this plane thought that they were in the most pain like there would be kids with a broken leg Which honestly is so painful they would yell bloody murder at anyone who came close to their like if you breathe on my leg I'll kill you

But when they had to go get snow because of their broken leg They had to step on all of the other survivors Without a care in the world about their injuries. So there's just a lot of yelling at people The worst cry has came from senior Maryanna, the woman who was going to a wedding, her daughter's wedding actually, and she was still trapped under all of the chairs Because both of her legs were broken. They had tried multiple times to unpack the chairs from on top of her, and every slight movement of the chairs made her scream in absolute pain. So they just gave up, they couldn't help her. It started getting so angsty that if you stepped on someone's foot,

they would start screaming that you're a murderer, that you had it out against them, that this was your plan. You wanted the plan to crash, so that you'd kill me! Why do you want to kill me? They're all hallucinating at this point. They're all getting crazy at this point. Yeah. They're like losing it. They're in shock most of them. I mean all of them either saw their friend's die or they're injured. They had to keep stopping these boys from going to the door and trying to leave. A lot of them would start sleepwalking or they'd be hallucinating. One of them is like, yeah, I'm just gonna go to the shop,

guys, you guys want anything? I'm getting some Coca-Cola. Another boy's like, well, I guess I could go with you. I kind of want some mineral water. I know all of them are like, are you guys seeing this? Stop them. They would have to tackle them down and they're like, what are you doing?

I'm just trying to go to the shop, geez. One of their friends, Nando Parado, Nando's mom had passed away. He was in a coma, like he was straight up unconscious. So we had the people who had died, we had the people who were injured, and then, you know, still alive, and then we had Nando who was kind of in this like limbo area. So he was just in the coma for like the first five days. When they wake up the next morning, they find that three more of their friends had died including senioria mariana who had died under all of the seats. The team decides to stay busy. Okay it's morning time let's

all rally out, account for the wounded, try to stitch them up somehow, put some little blankets on them. All the wounded I want you to go outside and stick your swollen limbs into the snow. It's like a nice pack, but it's free. They're trying to keep up morale. Okay, now the rest of the team, what we're going to do is we're going to move all of the seats because last night most of us slept standing up. Yeah, we didn't like that. So maybe, maybe we got to lay down once in a while. Let's move all the seats. Let's move all of the dead corpses outside and lay them in the snow as well. They start this entire operation.

And remember that boy with a steel pipe that was taken out of his stomach? He says, Roberto, Roberto, can I talk to you for a moment? I think something's wrong with my stomach. And he opens up his white shirt that he had tied around his waist. And there's this protruding piece of what looked like his intestines, just sticking out and his bleeding, and it's causing his stomach to bleed more. His stomach's not closing up naturally because of this piece. Well, if it's his intestines and we cut it, then you're going to have crazy infections. Your stomach might explode.

I mean, this is what I learned in my two years of medical school knowledge. I think the only thing that I can do is try to stick it back into your stomach. Okay, that's fine, Roberto, I trust you. But I need to disinfect it because if I stick it in now, it's probably going to infect your stomach. Okay, they start looking around. They don't find any rubbing alcohol. They decide to use Ode Colone.

Colone, because Colone has alcohol, so they spray the intestines with Cologne and they stick it back in. And he did not complain once. This is crazy stuff. The only other woman other than Young Susanna, who is Nondo's sister, who was also on the brink of losing her life and barely conscious most of the time was Lilliana Mehthal and she was a woman in her 30s traveling with her husband for their 12th anniversary. They had left all the kids by call and remember and she became this patient com figure for everyone. She became like their nurse. She was

falling around the med school students just patching up people tying you know bandages around everyone and after checking with all the passengers they go to the cockpit and the co-pilot had died in the night. The only surviving member of the crew was the maintenance band, but he was not very useful at the time, he couldn't stop peeing himself. He claimed that there weren't any signal flares or emergency supplies on the plane. The radio on the plane could only work if we get the extra batteries. Okay, well where's the extra batteries?

Well they're all on the tail of the plane that had flown off and is somewhere in the mountains now. Okay, well that's not helping. Well don't worry kids! Rescue's coming! We're gonna get saved! Well how do you know that sir? Because they always come, you know? That's how it works! Search and rescue.

We're missing. They're gonna rescue us. Marcelo, the team captain of the rugby team, he was like the least optimistic of everyone. He's the again, are you sure they're gonna rescue us? Okay, let's say they do rescue us. Maybe it takes a week. Maybe it takes a couple more days. We need to make sure that we're alive in the next couple of days.

He starts taking inventory of all of the food and drink that they have. They have three bottles of wine, five of them. They had eight total, but five of them were empty last night in the first night. So now they were only left with three. Because everyone thought that they were going to be rescued this morning. They had a couple bottles of liquor.

They had eight bars of chocolate, a couple other pieces of like truffles and some small jars of jam. That is not a lot of food for the remaining 28 survivors. They had no idea how long that they had to make this food food last so he just thought, we're going to make it last as long as possible. The first day, everyone was only given a small square of chocolate and a deodorant cap of wine. That's it. And they're working all day to clear this plane. Their main problem after they did all of that was their need for water. I mean, the snow has some problems. To stick a handful of snow in your mouth,

your mouth is gonna be completely frozen. Your tongue is gonna be in pain, and you also don't get that much water. But if you make a compact snowball to suck on it, like a little candy, like a jolly rancher, it's just not that convenient, and again, you become so cold. So why don't we put it into an empty water bottle

and shake it until it melts? But if we do that, that takes a lot of energy. And we are eating one square of chocolate a day. We don't have the calories to exert. But also, what about the wounded? They can't make their own water. So all the healthy people are gonna exert all of their energy, shake in water bottles like a protein shake.

This just makes sense. One of the boys decide, I need to find aluminum. He searches inside of the seats, like opens up each seat and they have aluminum, like rectangular aluminum pieces. He starts making these bowls out of it, making a spout on one side, cover it in snow, facing it towards the sun, and we'll sure enough water starts trickling into the water bottle. And this really inspires Marcello, the rugby team captain. He starts divvying up all of the survivors. Let's be efficient. We're efficient on the field. We're gonna be efficient today. I'm gonna be the position of coordinator.

I'm gonna be in charge of all the food, all the rationing and everyone trusted him. No one ever thought that he would do anything shady. He's just a really fair person. That's what Marcello was known for. The medical team. Three medical students and Lilliana, the makeshift nurse. You guys are gonna take care of all of the injuries. Okay, second group over here. Let's do the younger boys. All the young kids in the rugby team, you guys are in charge of the cabin. Keep it clean. Every single night I want you to lay out the cushions on the floor so we can lay down. And then every single morning, take these cushions out and dry them in the

sun. Because that's how much snow was coming into the cabin. It was just soaking wet by the time that they woke up in the morning. Imagine how cold they are. The third group, you guys are my water makers, okay? The only difficulty about water making is finding uncontaminated snow. I was thinking to myself, I want to be a water maker, so that sounds like the easiest group. But everything around the plane was either pink from the blood or polluted with the oil that fell out or urine. They would have to wake up early in the morning when the snow is hard so that

they can walk on top of the snow instead of slipping way steep into the snow. But if they walk away a few yards away from the plane on hard snow, they can't even take the snow off. I mean, it's hard as ice. But if they do it during the day, that means they would have to spend all day just moving inch by inch way steep and snow to gather uncontaminated snow. This would take a lot of energy and a lot of strength. So this was actually not the best group to be in. They decided that they were going to be designated bathroom spots and on the fifth night, Nando Parado woke from his coma.

Now this is very important because he would be pivotal in getting 16 survivors back home to their families. And no one would suspect it. Nando is part of the rugby team, but he always grew up just tall and timid. That's what everyone knew him for. His best friend was this like buff guy. Like imagine what you would think of a rugby team player lots of muscles

There he cares mad Ike he would get all the girls and none that would just be on his side And he's like that kind of geeky guy with the glasses and everyone's like, ah, but I don't know if I want to date him But he made the rugby team not because he was the buffest or the strongest He was just so determined. He was quietly so determined all the time. And he wakes up from his coma. And at first he said, everything was just still so silent. He just saw blurred faces of his friends, shaking him, mouthing words at them.

And then slowly they started asking, non-donon, are you okay? Okay? And he's nodding. And his first thought is my mom. Where's my mom? Is my mom okay? Where's my sister? My little sister's on this plane.

Is my sister okay? And because he was so weak, he was whispering. And all of the teammates felt like, I don't know how to tell him that his mom is dead and his sister's on the brink of death, so they pretended like they couldn't hear him and then eventually a couple hours passed and he shot up and he said where is my mom And he's looking around frantically, but like I said they've taken the bodies out his friend sits him down and tells him Your mom is dead and he was just slammed with this

Violent emotion his mom was like the center of his life, the center of the family, the only person that, you know, had control over everyone. She was the perfect person in his life. And he didn't know what to do. He just, he wanted to die. He wanted to cry. I mean, it's all over. What is there to do now? And they told him, but it gets worse. Your sister's gonna die if you don't help her. You need to massage her feet she's so cold. I think that she has internal bleeding. We don't know what to do.

She's bleeding from her school. And immediately he said that it was like this thing that turned off in his head. There was this voice that kept saying don't cry, don't cry or Susanna, your sister is gonna die. And he's thinking, am I like the most evil son alive because I just found out that my mom is dead, but there's a voice in my head that is saying don't cry for my dead mom? How does that make sense? So he just plops over to Susanna and starts taking care of her. Another night passes. And nighttime is really bad.

They could not really even get comfortable. All of them were on top of each other to lay down and if one person moved the rest of the plane had to move, the rest of the survivors. If you had to ate your leg, you would be forced to listen to everyone cussing you out and screaming at you in the middle of the night. If you moved your leg everyone around you had to move and this is really painful for the ones that were wounded. Because they had to constantly move their broken legs,

their broken arms. They wake up the next morning and they start hearing something and they're like, holy shit, we gotta get outside. It's not the sound of snow, it's not the sound of like wind. But do you hear that? That sounds like a helicopter. So they're running outside, they're jumping up and down, waving their arms,

like crying with joy. I mean, some of them were just sobbing out there, right? They're splitting into groups. The optimistic ones are like, yes, they're coming to save us! Yes, yes, we're right here! And then the realistic group came about. And they said, well, why are these planes circling us then? That doesn't make sense.

Why didn't they dip their wing to let us know that they saw us? If help is on their way, they didn't see us and look at this plane! This plane is completely covered in snow and the plane is white. They didn't see us, don't get it twisted, don't get excited, don't let everyone get hopeful, they're not finding us. The optimists, they said you can't bring down our sunshine, so they go into the plane and they start scavenging, they find some red lipstick, red nail polish, and they start painting the top of the plane red.

S-O-S is what they wanted to write. But after finishing the first S, they realized it was way too small to even make a difference. So they stopped. Their new plan was to gather a bunch of metal pieces. I mean, these kids are so smart. They start shining these metal pieces to another plane that flies by

so that the light can reflect into the pilot size and this plane dipped their wing and all of them just start celebrating. Roberto, the med student, he starts popping wine, their clinking bottles together. It's like early in the morning, ready to get rescued that day, an hour passes, another hour passes, night time comes and nobody came. Nondo had recovered really quickly and he's just bending all of his time taking care of his sister. And at this point, he becomes almost like a lunatic to escape. He's telling all of his friends, I'm gonna leave. I'm gonna leave and get some help.

I'm gonna climb all these mountains, I'm gonna climb down the mountain, up another mountain, down the mountain, find a village somewhere, I'm gonna get you guys help, I'm gonna climb down the mountain up another mountain down the mountain find a village somewhere I'm gonna get you guys help. I'm gonna get my sister to a hospital. That's the only way Otherwise my dad is gonna lose all of his family members. That's not okay I need to survive and I need to make sure that my sister survives if it weren't for his friends He would have left that day and he would have died He would have frozen out there. He would have starved to death. What do you mean you're walking? You're climbing the Andes mountains on one piece of chocolate a day in a sip of wine. Are you freaking crazy? That's

what you've been eating for the past seven days. And you want to climb mountains literally. And that is when the first suggestion of this came up. And this is what the case is known for. Okay, then I'll cut some meat off one of the pilots. And all his friends looked at each other and they said, I mean, that hit on their head. Really did him dirty. Like, he's got some brain cells. Nanda's going crazy, guys. Alright, well, add him to the list of kids who are hallucinating because Nanda's a weirdo.

So they just ignore him. They completely ignore this, but it will keep coming up. Besides, they were gonna get rescued soon. They start reading the plane maps and everyone was on the belief that west of them was Chile. So they're like, we gotta go west, you know? If there's villages on the west, it'll be fine.

We just have to get through a few mountains first. Then we're gonna see all of these villagers, these farmers, and we're gonna get rescued. Nando's like, okay, well, let's do it! Chili's on the west! Let's go west! They all sit together and they pick out their strongest players, strongest rugby players. Their top tier elite athletes.

I guess we should try it, right? You guys should attach the cushions to your shoes so you don't fall into the snow and maybe try to find the luggage or maybe the tail of the plane for the batteries for the radio. Just take a walk, just test it out, let's just see, right? They make their way, four of them, the toughest of them. Early October 17th, they set out for this climb, they walk about an hour or so and every time they have to rest after an hour. And eventually they realize if we don't turn back and go to the plane, we're going to freeze to death. They turn back and this attempt to press the shit out

of everyone. These were the toughest guys that were picked to go. And this short climb of the mountain and they almost died and they look so haggard now. They look like they're about to die. What does that mean for all of us? And the mood did not even get any better because on the eighth day, Nando woke up

to find his sister dead in his arms. So on this plane ride, he had lost his mom and his sister and he was stuck in this plane. Meanwhile, there was a search on the ground taking place and they had analyzed all of the information given to them by the pilots before they went dark. And with the speed of the plane, the wind that it was facing, there was just no way. I mean, the pilot said, we've crossed over the Andes Mountains, and now we're going to make an emergency landing because of the bad weather. But when they look at it, there's no way that they could across the mountains. So they calculated, and they processed the fact that the pilots probably took a right

turn and headed straight into the depths of the mountains instead of out. They had miscalculated. I don't know if it was the wind, I don't know if it was just the turmoil of everything, but that's what they came up with. So once they've decided that, I mean, there's really no option. They don't think that these survivors could have lasted the impact of the crash. They definitely don't think that they could have even lasted one day in the negative 40 degrees weather, with just a plain crash site.

It was impossible. But the usual protocol near the Andes Mountains was for every single country if they felt like, okay, well, maybe this wreckage, maybe this plain wreck is in our country limits. In our borders, we're going to do a 10-day search. This is customary. This is protocol. So that's exactly what Chile did. But the problem is, they were actually in Argentina.

They were right on the board of Argentina, when they crashed. So it doesn't matter where they searched, they can't find them, right? I mean, they could probably still search, but it was more than that. It was the fact that these mountains were so high and the plains could only be above the peaks. There was no way that they were going to see that little specks somewhere. They were also covered in like 20 to 100 feet of snow at this point. How could you even spot that out? Meanwhile the survivors could see each other deteriorate. By the 9th day, they were so exhausted

by doing the most small mundane things. This is a rugby team that we're talking about. These are guys in their prime youth. Many of them never got up from their sleeping spot. They just sat their zoned out, never went out to get fresh air. During the day, they didn't even care if their clothes were soaking wet from the night before. They would just sit in that same moist, freezing cold spot. Some boys faster than others came to the realization, okay, the only way that we're really going to survive any of this is we need to eat. There's no way.

I mean, we're running out of food completely. We've got what? Like, three pieces of chocolate left. We're all going to starve to death. That's ridiculous. We need to eat the bodies's no way. I mean, we're running out of food completely. We've got what? Like, three pieces of chocolate left. We're all gonna starve to death. That's ridiculous. We need to eat the bodies of our friends. They're preserved in the snow. There is nothing rotting. We need to eat the bodies of our friends. So this idea slowly starts spreading from all of the, like, one by one. It went from, like, the most courageous and open-minded and then to another and then to another. And then finally, they were like, we need to sit down and have this conversation because we need to do it together as a team Everyone needs to be okay with it. Otherwise, this is gonna cause like a world war

So they sit down and this is a difficult decision to make because most of them like I said we're Roman Catholics Even as a normal person the idea of eating your friend your friend's dead body or your friend's friend's dead body or just a Dead body is repulsive, but morally religiously they were so confused. Like, are we going to go to hell forever for this? I'd rather die than go to hell. So they have a conversation? Yeah, they sit down and there were some people saying, well, it's just meat. Technically, if we are Roman Catholics, we believe that after death, their souls leave their bodies, they either go to heaven, and they're with God now. So all of our friends, it's not, it's not our friends, their souls are gone.

Don't you think that we need all this energy to try to escape, to try to get some help? And then someone said, well, maybe God wants us to live. Maybe he gave us our dead bodies. Maybe he gave us the dead bodies of our friends and it would be wrong to reject the gift. But what do you think our friends would think if they're in heaven watching us? And it was silence. And someone said, well, all I know is, if my dead body could help you stay alive, I'd certainly want you to use it. In fact, if I do die and you don't eat me, I'm going to come back wherever I am. And I'm going to give you a good kick in the ass. Just one of them say that?

Yeah, and one by one, they all pledged, if I die, please eat my body. And they decided to eat the bodies of their dead friends. This was actually one thing to decide and another thing to actually do it. So finally, some of the braver ones, they went to the bodies in the snow, cover their faces in snow so that they wouldn't have to see and started cutting off flesh with a piece of broken glass. This was a really hard thing to do. Then they put it on the roof of the plane to dry it in the sun and they just said if anyone

wants it, go have at it. For like the first day, nobody wanted to eat it. Finally Roberto was like, okay you know what, I'm just going to prove to everyone it's fine. He takes it by it in front of everyone, he gagged, he swallowed it, okay, you know what? I'm just gonna prove to everyone. It's fine. He takes it by the end of everyone. He gagged, he swallowed it, he threw snow down his throat to push it down because it was horrendous. And a few of the other boys saw his example.

They started eating the meat. There was a lot of hesitation, not just moral and religious, but a lot of these kids were like, well, let's just wait until tomorrow morning. Because we don't know the effects of cannibalism. Let's just see if Roberto makes it to the morning. And eventually, he did. So they all started eating the meat.

There were a couple people who still refused in a non-judgmental way, but most of them started eating the meat, and they would just constantly gag. It was really bad. So all of them did? Yeah, eventually. And I guess that's how you survive, right? And they spent their days just trying to get a radio signal. So they had multiple different types of radio.

The radio in the cockpit of the plane is one that they could communicate with. They had other radios that they could only listen to. Like almost like a Apple music or something. OK, you guys know what a radio is. Yeah, like an actual radio. Yeah. Like an actual radio.

So they're trying to get to signal. They keep getting some propaganda from all these different countries. And then eventually, they heard that the search and rescue had been canceled because of the negative results. Sometimes I'm researching these stories and I realize there is no way that I would have been able to go through this experience, okay? I need the help. Sometimes I find that there's things that are standing in between me and my happiness and some of

those are the fact that I get so anxious and self-conscious over small things and I'm like oh my gosh, does someone judging me over there? And one thing that I really found that helps is better help. They assess your needs and match you with your own license professional therapist, which is amazing because you can actually start communicating in under 48 hours. This is not a crisis line, it's not self-help, it's professional counseling done securely online. What's cool is that they have this broad range of expertise available, which may not be

locally available in many areas, and the service is available to clients worldwide. I love that no matter where I am, I can just log into my account any time, send a message to my counselor and I get a timely and thoughtful response. Plus, I can schedule weekly video and phone sessions. I never have to sit around in an uncomfortable waiting room, which is just, gives me so many feelings with traditional therapy. And on top of that, it's actually more affordable than traditional offline counseling and financial aid is available.

Better help once you start living a happier life today. So visit betterhelp.com slash rotten that's better, H-E-L-P, enjoying over the one million people who have taken charge of their mental health with the help of an experienced professional. In fact, so many people have been using better help that they are recruiting additional counselors in all 50 states. This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp and Rotten Mangle listeners can get 10% off of their first month at BetterHelp.com slash Rotten. Now, only a few of these boys heard this over the radio and they just broke down in tears,

sobbing on their knees. What do we tell the others in the plane? No in tears, sobbing on their knees. What do we tell the others in the plane? No, no, we can't tell them. We can't, are you kidding? Just let them hope. Just let them hope that's all we have right now is hope. And one of them said, no. We have to tell them the truth. So he walks in there and says, hey boys, I've got some good news.

They've called off the search. And everyone just is so pissed. They're crying. They're like how is that good news? Which wrong with you? You psycho path. What's wrong with you? And he said well, I guess that means because we can just get out on our own. We can do it And people just start busting out laughing because this is the moment that you want to show courage This is the moment where you're like we can do it guys They called off the search, but like I'm gonna be there. I'm gonna go and get us help But this news absolutely broke the team captain Marcelo and it said that after this point

He became empty and the life just went out of his eyes The rugby team captain now the optimist the Realists, the separation was still there. The Optimus new plan was no longer, oh they're gonna come rescue us, don't worry, it was, we're gonna escape. It's very interesting because they said if you were to send a Realist outside the plane and ask them about the weather, they would come back and report, it's freaking cold. There's a blizzard that's headed straight out way, we're doomed. There's probably gonna be an avalanche.

If you send an Optimist the same day, the same moment, they would come back and say, there's a little bit of snow, but it's not gonna last long. I think in about half an hour, we'll have a clear blue sky for the day. So you're saying that among this whole group, they just split into half.

Yeah, the realists and the optimists, the optimists that kept saying, we're gonna escape, we're gonna get help. And then the realist saying, we're gonna die here, let's face the facts. That is so fascinating. Yeah. What do you think you are?

I think I would be a realist. Really? Really? I think I would be an optimist. Yeah. I think I'm a realist. Yeah. Yeah, I'm gonna tell you exactly what you're doing. You're like, I'm gonna tell you

that we're all gonna die tomorrow. And with the news that the search and rescue had stopped, they did another expedition with three of the strongest boys. They were sent out and every 20 steps they stopped. I mean, the climb seemed almost vertical to the top. The air started to pass to get to the summit of the mountain that they were on to see which way to go, just to get some geographical information.

Because, I mean, they could kind of read the map, but how could they be so sure? And as they're trying to summit, the air is so thin. They could barely breathe. They're clutching at the snow so they don't fall, and night comes, and they're like, well, we can't go back down. So they end up sleeping on this mountain, just in the snow, burying themselves in the snow.

What? Yeah. That's unreal. It's said that they might have swell of just been naked. They had to keep punching each other to keep circulation. They hit their faces. They were punching each other in their mouths Like just decking each other full on punches in the face. Their clothes were soaked through the next morning They had to take them off and ring them out of that water in the freezing cold and they continued up the mountain again

And this is the part where it got really depressing when they looked down as they got further up the mountain again. And this is the part where it got really depressing. When they looked down as they got further up the mountain, they realized that they couldn't even find the plane. Like they had to keep an eye on it because that's how invisible it was. There was no way that someone was gonna rescue them. So when they get higher, all they see are more mountains and at the top, they're not even at the top of the mountain,

but like a top of the ridge, they find the wing of the plane. They also see a seat that's flipped over and their dead friend is still strapped in the seat. And dead, right? And dead. They find a total of six bodies at the top of the mountain, so now everybody is accounted

for, and they decide, okay, well, let's try to, you know, get some clothes off the dead bodies. That's really all we can do, and then head back down, which I'm sure this was such an emotional thing to do, so they take some clothes down, and as're about heading down one of them had broken their sunglasses. But you know it had broken and he thought it's all that bad. I'm just gonna peer over them. I'm just gonna look over the sunglasses, step down so that I don't fall off of this mountain because if I take a miscalculation in my step I'm gonna fall. But by the time that he made it back to the plane, he was practically blind. He was blinded by the snow. The reflection of that beaming sun on a clear blue sky

streaked onto just the pure white snow of every single mountain practically blinded him for weeks. These are things that it's like, you don't think about you. Yeah, you don't even, it's unbelievable how these people survived. Yeah, and on their way down, one of them was like, hey, what happened to your shoe? What do you mean what happened to my shoe? He looks down and his feet were so numb that he didn't realize that he was walking barefoot with one foot. One of his shoes had slipped off and he didn't even notice. He was walking in the snow barefoot.

When they get back, obviously everyone's freaking disappointed You didn't find the batteries in the tail. Well, did you get to the top? You didn't even get to the top and why are you guys all limping? Why are your feet turning purple? Why can't you see anything? They're like these are again the three strongest that we sent and This is the way that they come back. We're never getting help. We're never getting out of this. So the morale declined again and all of the leaders decided the only way to get the morale

back up is if we heat up one of these Coca-Cola crates because they had lighters, they didn't have enough to like make a fire for a long time, but heat up one of the Coca-Cola crates and cook the meat. Like a little barbecue, that's the only way that we're gonna lift anyone's spirits. Even though the search and rescue had stopped, the parents didn't stop. I mean, the parents continued to search for their kids. The parents who couldn't donate their time

or were ill or older, they donated money. Other parents went to neighboring countries asking for private planes of just citizens in Argentina and all these other places. Please help me search. One of the dads even became well known in all of the villages surrounding the Andes Mountains, the crazy guy looking for a son. That's what they called him, the crazy guy, because they all thought the son's not alive. There's no freaking way,

but everywhere that he went, everyone who knew him, they tried to help him. If he went to a restaurant, they would never accept his money and they'd say, you're the crazy guy looking for your son. And even though these people, they didn't believe that the kids were alive, they did everything to help in a way that they could. There were a lot of people who had no money and they would sacrifice all the money that they had for the rest of the month to help these parents, even though they firmly believed your kids are dead. By the 17th day, the spirits were high again. Okay, they have this system now.

You take off your shoes before you come in, it keeps the plane less soggy, less soggy, equals more happy. You know, they're looking for the fittest of them all. They've got a goal now. They've got a plan. We're gonna find expeditionaries within our group. We're gonna find maybe four or five people

for the next couple of weeks, they're gonna bulk up. We're gonna give them all the meat that we can. Everybody else is gonna ration. They're not gonna move a finger. They're just gonna lay in this plane and do whatever they want until they are the fittest that they've ever been, and then they're gonna trek up that mountain and rescue us.

This is our new plan. They had teams where everything. There was a team for cutting the meat, there was a team for cleaning, there was a team for the water, a team of doctors. Just everything had this wonderful flowing system, and that night when they went to sleep, none of them could fall asleep. They were just so excited, we're finally gonna get out of here. Now, a boy by the name of Roy, he stayed up.

He stayed up a lot longer than the rest of the boys, and he felt this faint vibrating sound. He was like, oh that's so strange. I've never felt this before, for the past 17 days, and I like delusional because I'm so hungry. We watched that sound. It was almost like the sound of like a piece of metal falling. Are they coming to rescue us in the middle of the night? So he jumps up, and suddenly he had the wind knocked out of him, and he looks back down, and he is waist deep in snow. And when he looks around the plane, it was almost entirely filled with snow. The wall of the entrance of suitcases had

been toppled and buried with snow. The cushions, all of his sleeping friends were completely covered in snow. There had been an avalanche. And they didn't feel it. No. Oh, yeah. And so he just starts frantically digging for his friends. The snow is compact. So he's digging, digging. He sees hands starting to stick out and he's reaching for them.

He uncovered Roberto, the med student. They find another, but they're panicked. I mean, minutes were passing while they're trying to dig people out. People are suffocating. They're gonna die. They tried shoveling the snow out of the plane, but that was completely useless. They all just are frantically digging.

They're passing around a cigarette lighter to warm up their hands because their hands were turning frozen. From all of this digging. The ones that weren't at the top, the ones that couldn't stick their hands out, they were biting the toes of the ones that could to let them know. There's more people down here like, please keep digging, please keep digging. One by one, boys started biting the toes of the ones that could to let them know. There's more people down here, like, please keep digging, please keep digging. One by one, boys started being buried out of the snow. When they dug for their team captain, though, they saw his face, and Marcelo was dead. Now, this is the part where human nature does kind of take over.

One of the boys started digging and said, is that you Gustavo? Yes, yes, yes, it's me. It's Gustavo. Okay, well Gustavo, Nickolich? No, Gustavo's Irpino. And the boy moved on. It was kind of human nature to try to save your closest friends and family from the avalanche.

So thankfully, Irpino had a little bit of a hole that he could breathe through and he was rescued by somebody else. And Javier and Liliana were kind of forgotten. I mean, they weren't really connected with the group. They weren't really friends. They were just a couple that happened to be on the plane. And he started sticking his hand out of the snow.

And they tried pulling him up. And Javier said, no, no, no, no, forget about me. I can breathe. Get my wife, Liliana, please, please, please. Liliana, make an effort. Hold on. I'll get you. And she didn't respond.

And he knew that the boys were on top of the snow, just frantically digging in every single direction, and they were adding pressure to her, and pressing the snow on top of her, and by the time that they found her, she was dead. And Havier was slumped in the snow, just weeping, and his only consolation was that his belief that she's in heaven, and she's watching over me now. When they finally get around town covering everyone, they had lost eight people due to the avalanche. And many of them wish that I wish I was killed in that avalanche.

Like this is, why do I have to grieve the loss of more of my best friends? They were just sleeping next to me. I mean, I can't even imagine how traumatic that is. And at that moment, a second avalanche hit. Thankfully, the entrance was already blocked, so most of the snow just passed on top of the plane, but now the plane was almost completely buried. So they would have to wait multiple days for the sun to slowly start melting some of the snow

before that they could leave the plane. So for like two days, they have really no water other than the snow inside the plane that's covered in debris and dirt and blood and they also have no food Other than the dead bodies in the plane that nobody's really trying to you know And they would have to sleep on top of this snow. They're stuck They would resort to jumping on top of each other's legs to gain circulation and they started getting low on oxygen That it was really common for these boys to start fainting. Like it was like the most common thing.

Like, oh, there he goes again, just fainting. They sat around in a circle and they said, okay, well, we need to raise morale. We survived the worst. You know, things can only get better. We really have to get help. This is so sad. You know, this is so crazy that they went through so much and it just makes me amaze how much human has in them

But also like how much power you have when you have a group of people together because I don't think any One individual can survive this long at all. Don't you think I don't think so either and there was a lot of speculation let's say these were 45 just adults strangers on a plane. I don't think it would have been the same either. A lot of these were family friends, family members, and rugby team players who already had this trust built-in with each other that were like, I know you're not gonna steal extra food. I know that you're gonna help me live.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that plays a huge part. I think so. And maybe the fact that they're young, because sometimes, you know, adults be wild. So they're raising this morale. We survived the worst. Things are only gonna get better. We're gonna get help. We just have to wait until summertime, you know? Well, when summertime, well, a taxi driver once told me that snow stops and the summer starts on November 15th,

which technically is only in about two weeks. So it wouldn't make sense to go now. We should pick the, you know, expeditionaries. We wait two weeks, they bulk up, they eat all the protein, and then they go. And then maybe, you know, there's gonna be a full moon usually during summer, so you can walk at night, and instead of sinking into the snow,

you'd be walking on top of the snow. I mean, nobody could really argue this logic of why would you go now versus wait two weeks. And Nando was like one of the only people that was just rushing to get out. Like if his friends did not stop him he would have left on multiple occasions and he would have died. So finally Halloween came around. It was actually Carlitos 19th birthday.

They made him a little snow cake and gave him an extra cigarette for his birthday. And because they had an eaten in two days, they started cutting off the meat of some of the dead inside the plane. Who had been alive just a few days prior and this was done in front of everyone. They ate it, wet and raw, they were gagging, they couldn't really swallow it, but they had to, otherwise they would die,

and still some of them refused. I mean, their bodies were completely deteriorating. So the first of November comes around. The snow stops and they climb out and they start planning the expedition. The one huge problem was, yes, we do have the eight bodies that died in the avalanche, but all of the other bodies that had died in the actual accident who were a lot sicker who had more meat on them because, you know, they had eaten well, they had been buried

in snow. So now they're low on food. They've got to make thisast as long as possible. Eight body sounds like a lot, but you're feeding a lot of people. And we don't know how long. They choose the expeditionaries. The first on the list was Nondo. Now he had shown his strength throughout all of this. Before this, he was seen as just that tall, skinny kid, kind of timid. Now he's like this hero. He was actually the most loved out of all of them. He was considered courageous, strong, unselfish, he never excused himself from any work even though he was an expeditionary. They had the right to eat all they wanted, they had the right to lay down all they wanted until the expedition.

But he said, no, I'm gonna do it. At night the wall would fall down, he would jump up and put it back in, and then lay in bed, everyone would have to punch him because he was practically frozen. And then 15 minutes later, it would fall back down and he would jump up without even hesitating and go put it back up. The only weakness that he really had was that he was so eager to get out that he would have been just too impatient. He would have killed himself if his friends didn't stop him. And then the other expeditionary was Numa Tercati. He was loved even well before this plane ride.

He was small, but he was incredibly muscular, and everyone just said that he had this genuine nature about him. And the whole group of survivors thought, okay, well if Nando and Numa go, we're gonna make it. Like these guys are not just heroic, but they're smart. And they're not too emotional. They're gonna save us. They're gonna be our heroes.

The next person was Roberto Kinesa, the men's student. He was really good at ideas, he made a hammock, he's quick on his feet, but he was also really anxious and tense all the time. He was one of the more volatile ones in the plane. You know, bad temper, he would curse people out, just scream nonstop, he was incredibly stubborn. The only person that could really rain him in was Nando. And then there was Antonio Vizentin. And he was not as assertive in domineering as Roberto, but he was what they called self-centered. These were the four. And because the expeditionaries were getting

the good pieces of all of the meat that they had left, the rest of the survivors, they started eating the liver, the heart, the kidneys, the intestines, they would actually cut out sheets of fat and dry them in the sun until a crust formed, and they were eaten by everyone as a source of energy. Only the lung, skin, and head, and genitals weren't eaten, but later they would end up eating the brains because they ran out of food.

Now, the biggest major drawback, other than just like the psychological torture of eating your friends and being stuck on this mountain mountain was when the constipation hit. These kids were so constipated, they were terrified that their stomachs were about to explode, they tried everything, they would stick sticks up their butt to try to lure the poop out, they swallowed oil that was scraped off the body fat of the dead bodies, but nothing, some of them developed bloody hemorrhoids, it was bad. They started placing bets on who would poop last. But there was like a comical side to it. One of the moncho, he was sitting there in pain and he's like, I can't do it. He's crying because his poop is hurting. I can't do it. And the boys are making fun of him like, oh, he can't do it. Finally, he pushes with all his might to show his friends.

Yes, I can. I can poop. And he picks up the rock hard poo and throws it directly at them. It didn't do much damage. OK. The last person took 34 days to poop. They came and lost. And so once everyone pooped, then the diarrhea hit. Everyone was diarrhea. It was so bad.

It was just so bad. Roberto came out in the middle of the night And he's like, oh man, I got a diarrhea, right? So he gets out the plane and he's squatting down and he looks around Just enjoying the view and he sees like six pairs of eyes just staring back at him No, everyone's out there diarrhea. Oh, I thought there was like wolves or something Everyone's out there diarrhea, just crouching quietly, diarrheaing on different sides of the plane. These are all somewhat comical, or they tried to see it in a comical light,

but there was a lot going on. Arturo, he was mentally deteriorating, as well as his body. Even when the sun was out, he would stay in the plane. Eventually, he became so delusional, he would constantly just scream at people. Here comes the milk cart. here's the farmer open the door for the milk cart, and they tried shaking him awake, and they found that he was shivering with a high fever. He was in a half coma, half delirious, and November 15th he passed away. And this shook everyone, because they were under the belief that

after the avalanche had hit, they had survived for a reason, because they were under the belief that after the avalanche had hit they had survived for a reason Because they were all gonna get out of here. That was what kept their spirits high Well, there's no reason that we wouldn't have died under something crazy like that I mean how many times can we get lucky? We die we survived the plane crash We survived the avalanche. That's because that's because God wants us to live, right? There's no other reason, but when our touro died all of that was shattered right? There's no other reason, but when our touro died, all of that was shattered. So that means any of us can die today. Our life is not guaranteed. We need to get help. Soon after Raphael, another one of their friends was delusional, kept asking who wanted to come get some bread from the shop with him and eventually he too passed away.

So we had two more that passed away after the avalanche. So this caused the expedition to be a sped for. They're like, we gotta go now. They start heading out. They didn't make it to the top of the mountain, but they made it to the tail of the plane. I don't know how they found it, but they found the tail of the plane,

which mean that they found the batteries. So for the next two weeks, they start going back and forth between the tail of the plane and the plane that they were in, trying to get the radio out, but this radio is like embedded into the cockpit. So it's got about 76 wires attached to it. How do you unclip all of those wires?

Bring it to the tail where the battery is attached to the tail and then clip those 76 wires perfectly with no labeling. I mean, how many possibilities is that? Yeah. So then you get a radio signal and eventually they got no radio signal They could kind of listen to certain stations like they did when they were at the regular plane But they couldn't talk to anyone they couldn't communicate or send a message to anybody so it was ultimately a moot point But they did find some of the lost luggage. They found extra clothes

They found a little bit of food like moldy sandwiches, which was the best thing that they ever tasted It was really intense. And the middle of November, summer did indeed start. And this caused another plethora of problems. Their lips were burnt, completely chapped. Their skin was burnt and just peeling off because the sun was just that bright. There's no shade. There's no shade at all.

The white snow is just reflecting off to them. They're scared that the snow is going to melt. And right now the plane is just kind of on this ledge of snow. If the snow melts, it could just topple over at any point, all the way straight down, 7,000 feet. So that's incredibly terrifying. They start digging in the snow. They find more handbags. They find more luggage. They find some lipstick foundation, and they're smothering it all over their face to protect themselves from the sun. And they start laughing at the fact that, okay, like if we're found today, they're going to think that we were so sexually frustrated that we're just trying to dress up like our girlfriends right now.

They're trying to find the comical side even after all of this, and then the worst problem hit. Their quote food was rotting. The snow was not preserving the bodies anymore. And they thought, well, we have to eat the rotten pieces first just in case. Because we don't know how long. So they started bearing more of the bodies deeper into the snow and putting, you know, stations where they could find them again, but they started eating the rotten parts, and this is when they started eating the brains. They would split the skulls open and use the skull as a bowl to eat the brains. And then Numa, one of the expeditionaries who had been very exhausted from the back and forth to the tail, to the radio, to the tail, he ended up getting really sick.

They had taken off his shirt to examine his body and he was a full skeleton. So they tried to feed him the most luxurious food that they could find, which was toothpaste. This was considered like your birthday special, was to get a scoop of toothpaste and they said it tasted like dessert at the time. Toothpaste tasted like dessert. So they just gave him swipes and swipes of toothpaste, but eventually he passed away in the arms of his best friend. And Javier, remember the man who lost his wife? I mean, he was starting to grow really fond of Numa and really protective of Numa.

So he was taking a nap or maybe he was outside, but he's inside now and he kept telling everyone careful You're gonna step but you're gonna step on Numa Have here. What you're gonna wake him up? Have you knew miss Ted and He just I mean they said that his spirits just completely shattered He's just weeping almost as if he had lost his own son He's just weeping almost as if he had bust his own son

Here's something new that I've been doing. It's such a small change, but it makes me feel so much happier Okay, so you know how smell it's an underappreciated sense to be honest It creates memories and unleashes desires. So these days I've been switching up my shampoo and my conditioner scent Every single month and you're like what do you mean you're switching up my shampoo and my conditioner scent every single month And you're like, what do you mean you're switching up your shampoo scent? That's crazy So you're getting a new shampoo that you don't even know is gonna work for your hair every single month just because of the scent No, no, I use Function of beauty you guys already know so whether it's mango rose pear you go. If this whatever your favorite is Function of beauty is the world leader and fully customized

hair care. So you create your unique formula that's based on a short but thorough quiz to give your hair everything that it needs to look and feel its best. Every single product is sulfate and paraben free vegan, cruelty free and there are over 60,000 real five star customer reviews which is crazy so don't just take it for me and function beauty fans are absolutely wild about the fragrances. I am included okay for good reason my hair has never smelled so amazing you can try tropical mango not rotten mango but tropical mango sweet peach crisp pear or maybe you're like I want something settle lavender rose eucalyptus if you're like my mom and you're like I don't like fragrance, that's okay.

You can get it completely unscented as well. I love the mango scent. I mean, of course I have to. And the crisp pear, that's just like the freshest summer. You just feel so clean. It's almost like turning your beauty routine into an aromatherapy session, a tropical getaway. So go to functionabuty.com, slash rotten,

to take your quiz and save 20% on your first order. That applies to their full range of customized hair, skin and body products. That's functionabutie.com slash rotten. To let them know that you guys heard about it here and to get 20% off of your order, functionabutie.com slash rotten. So we've got three expeditionaries left. They're ready to head out. They've got a Slash Ratton. So we've got three expeditionaries left. They're ready to head out. They've got a climb to the top of the mountain down this like 13,000 foot mountain and into the valleys and hope that there's some villagers over there. Before they leave, Nando pulls some of the guys aside and he says, I know that you guys are reserving the bodies of my mom and my sister. So they weren't eating some of the family members.

So like friends were a little bit different, but they weren't eating, you know, Lilliana, they weren't eating, you know, Susanna, they weren't eating, you know, all of these people who had family that were alive. Cause it just seemed really painful and disrespectful. And Nando said, but if you have nothing else to eat, it's okay. And they were

just so moved by this. They didn't even know how to say thank you because what even is this life where you're like, it's okay to eat my family because you have to survive. Yeah. So they start climbing the summit. I mean, it's slushy material at this point. It's really bad. It's vertical. This is not a place where you want to lose your balance because you will fall and you will most likely die. And every single time that they get closer to the top, they think it's almost there. It's almost there. We're going to reach it in about an hour. They go another hour. Then it seems so further away now. Okay, no, it's almost there. It's almost there. It's like this really weird deceptive thing that kept happening to them. It's

like an optical illusion So they keep climbing they spent multiple nights on the side of this mountain and eventually they needed a new plan Because if it took them this long to climb the mountain to get back down the mountain We're gonna run out of food. You know then what are we gonna do? So they have this dead set plan that Nando he does not want to go back He's like I will go by myself then to get rescue to get help. I'm not going back. So Nando and Roberto decide to go on and they send Antonio back down and they keep all of the rations of food and they eventually reach the top and they just see mountains on mountains and mountains. And on the west they said

but that mountain over there doesn't look like it has snow, right? Yeah, but that's going to take us 50 days to get there. That's the only way we can do it. So they decide to do it. Wait, so there is a mountain over? Oh, snow, yeah. Just weird. I'm telling you, they said that the weather is crazy.

That's why they have hope for this. There's a lot of villages that actually live in between the valleys of the mountains. A lot of indigenous people, a lot of farmers, a lot of produce is actually made in the Andes Mountains. So there's thinking that since there's no snow, there might be some people. There might be some like, you know, farmers.

There might be a small little village because it's habitable land. And these people, you know, farmers. There might be a small little village because it's habitable land. And these people, you know, they find habitable land and they will use it. Okay. So they're like, we gotta go. Now to get down the mountain, they have to slide on their back or their butt.

This sounds fun, but it's not sledding. This is crazy, dangerous. One slip off balance. It's gonna send you toppling off the mountain. Like you're gonna fall off the mountain into free fall and then just right plop onto the valley. If you spray in your ankle, this is essentially a death sentence. You're not gonna make it back to the plane.

You're not gonna make it down. You're gonna die. If you hit a boulder, you're also gonna die. If you break any limb or spray any limb, you're gonna die. But for some reason, luck was on their side and they slid all the way down and they made it. I mean, obviously it took multiple days, but they were so delighted because once they got to the bottom, they saw their first ever stream.

First fresh water that they had seen this whole time. And when they looked past the stream, is that what I think it is? Moss, they see some grass, they see the first sign of vegetation in the last 65 days, and they rush over. They hop across the stream, and they just start stuffing the moss in their mouth. They're so freaking hungry. They shove grass into their pockets as a snack, because this is much more delicious than human meat, right? They're drinking from the stream, and they keep headed that way.

At the end of the valley, they saw what they described to be paradise. The snow just stopped. It was almost like a clean border of snowy mountains and a rainforest almost. Just beautiful, full green, like the greenest you've ever seen. Flowers, there were rose bushes, and they just started bawling their eyes out. They rest a little, they get started again, and once they see past on the mountain side, it's still really far, okay, I think miles. But they're like, is that what I think that is? Are those fucking cows?

And Nando's like, no, Robert, they're not cat. They're probably like horses. Okay, but have you seen wild horses? Have you seen wild cows here? That means someone owns these cows. Okay, we gotta get to those cows. So they start climbing over. Now, the terrain is much warmer and it's much more pleasant,

but it's still really bad. They had to hop over boulders and boulders. These rivers, I mean, think the Amazon river. These are not cute little streams in your neighborhood park. These are intense. Like I said, spraying an ankle on a wobbly boulder, death sentence. And then they see another sign. An empty soup can. Someone had been here. There is civilization nearby. This is habitable land. Or at least a tourist had come here. This, we can get somewhere from here. Someone

walked here and they go, look, look over there back and I was like, that's cow poop. Are you sure there's cow poop? I know cow and they get into this huge argument about who knows cow poop and they just keep walking and they see this tree and this is when Nando. So Nando's a little bit more realistic, okay? He's like, that's not cow poop. That could be anything.

You don't know poop like that. Get out of here. They see this tree and it's just chop straight clean in the middle and Roberta is looking at him like you think of wild cow did that you think so okay there are people here so they keep looking for the next couple of days and on the 10th day of their trip of leaving the plane they see it men on horseback across the big river. And they just start waving their arms screaming at the top of their lungs and the men look at them and they thought, okay, I mean, they were interviewed and they said, well, I thought they were either terrorists

or tourists. I don't really know. So they just kind of waved back and said, okay, well, we don't know what you want. So maybe we'll be back tomorrow. And they just left, they left! So the boys, I mean, they're still ecstatic. They're like, we gotta wait right here, they're gonna come back, and we're gonna, we're gonna get saved. So they sleep under that tree, they take turn sleeping so they don't miss the guys on the horseback,

and sure enough the next day they come back and one of them says, meet me at the stream. They meet on the opposite ends of this massive river, they can't hear each other. It's so loud. This is how big the river is. And the guy throws a rock at him, and there's a note attached that says,

tell me what you want. Wow. So he's like, I need a pen. So then he throws a pen at him. And Nando starts writing, I come from a plane that fell in the mountains. I'm Yoruguayan. We've been walking for 10 days.

I have a friend who is injured. In the plane, there are 14 people. We don't have food. We are weak. When are you coming? Please. We've been walking for 10 days. I have a friend who is injured in the plane. There are 14 people. We don't have food. We are weak. When are you coming? Please, we can't even walk. Where are we? And then wrote SOS, just in case, in lipstick.

And threw it back at them. The man signaled, OK, I got you. And threw a piece of bread at them. And left. So a couple hours later, a man comes to rescue them on their side of the river, and they were given food, beds, and the police got there, and they told them the whole tale of their survival. Minus a few things, minus the cannibalism. But they will discover that, right?

Yeah. There was a lot of, it gets so sad, there was a lot of turmoil with all these kids. You know, some of them were like, should we, if we ever do get rescued, what do we do before the helicopter lands? Do we bury the bodies and try to hide the evidence? And some of them said, why, we're not doing anything wrong. We did what we could and it's not like we killed them,

they were dead. So there was just a lot. So they start drawing these maps of, okay, well, this is where the plane crashes, but the helicopters, they were dead. So there was just a lot. So they start drawing these maps of okay well this is where the plane crashes but the helicopters they took off and they could not find this plane crash even with Nando's map. So finally Nando, terrified of planes, decides to get in the helicopter to lead them to the plane site. And once they find it they could not land the helicopter. They couldn't, they could not land the helicopter. They couldn't. They could only hover over.

So they're hovering. The blades are going, these blades will kill you. They'll take you up to to the Capitol, you're in like 0.2 seconds, okay? Terrifying. Terrifying. The medical staff, like real doctors, they jump out and they start tending to the injured. They start letting some of the survivors rush into the helicopter. There was a second helicopter waiting to pick up survivors. And the blades again were still running. I mean, this is a terrifying experience. Half the survivors were taken in, and they would be back for the rest and the medical

team. But they had brought food, the medical team had brought supplies, medicine, food, all of that. Now, the whole day would pass, and they realized that they would have to sleep in the camp. Because the helicopters weren't coming till tomorrow. The helicopter survivors, once they land, they're just jumping, rolling in the camp. Because the helicopters weren't coming till tomorrow. The helicopter survivors, once they land, I mean they're just jumping, rolling in the grass. They have gotten to

the valley and everything's just so green. One of them is holding up a flower like a little dandy land and he's sniffing it and he goes look, look, a smell it and he gives it to his friend and instead of smelling it, he just jams it into his mouth. I mean they're so hungry. They're like eating grass at this point, and all the police are like, you know, we're gonna feed you, right? Like, we're gonna take you guys to a hospital and feed you. But they're just eating flowers.

They're rushed to the hospital, and a lot of them. I mean, thankfully, there was no critical conditions, but most of them had lost anywhere between 60 to 100 pounds. They had fractured legs, infections, high blood pressure, irregular pulses. It was bad. And the doctor asked each of them, what was the last thing you ate? And they all said, human flush. Now this caused a big problem for the doctors, not because they were judgmental, but because, okay, there's not that many studies done on how, I mean, these kids are mentally already going through a lot.

But how does that play in to eat the dead bodies of your friends? There's not really studies on this. I know there are certain places where you do eat the dead bodies of your ancestors. I think this was like more of a tradition so that their soul could live on within you. But this is different. So the doctors invited priest over to come help with the mental health of these patients and they all confessed to their sin of eating human flesh, but the priest said, you don't have to confess because it's not a sin, not in this case. And he stated that most of them were so heavily burdened by this and they felt so much relief

being told by a priest that you're fine. Many of the families were reunited at the hospital. The most heartbreaking was probably of the Pareto family. Mr. Pareto has lost his wife and daughter in the flight. And his son was brought back to him. And it was just really emotional. There was, I mean, how do you even feel?

Do you feel sorrow? Do you feel joy? And he was worried about that. You know, the dad was like, if I go into that hospital, what if my son sees my disappointment that all of them didn't survive? Right? He's concerned, but he said the minute that he walked in and he saw his son laying in the hospital bed, he was just the happiest man alive. Many of the kids started telling their parents what they did to survive.

They did this. They did that. And they also ate human flesh. And all of the parents were shocked. And the boys were upset by this because they did that, and they also ate human flesh. And all of the parents were shocked, and the boys were upset by this, because they're like, why? Why should I be ashamed? You know, I did this to survive. Like, did you not want me to survive? I could either have died within a couple of days, or do this. So there was just a lot of tension. I think the parents just needed a moment to, like, just absorb this. But it kind of showed on their face like like you did what? My son did what? Hmm.

Now the remaining survivors at the plane crash were so excited. They started oiling their hair. They're like, I want to, they're probably going to have newspaper pictures of me like I got to look good when I rescued in the helicopters the next day. That night all of the med staff have been in the tent and they realized too they had eaten human flesh. I mean there was just limbs all over the place There were like half bitten hands of dead bodies all over the place

The smell was intense and so the Med staff said okay, well we made you dinner They had didn't amazing food for the first time the Med staff said we're gonna set up our tent right next to the plane and That's what we're gonna sleep They're like no attend. Oh God. No, you must please were we're gonna sleep. They're like, no, no, attend! Oh God, no! You must, please, we're not gonna be bad hosts. You better stay with us. And the bad team is like, I don't know. We will definitely stay in our attend.

We don't wanna bother you in your home, in your beautiful place. And they're like, well, one of you's got to stay with us. Okay? Because we're not gonna be bad hosts. So they said, okay, one of you's got to stay with us. Okay, because we're not going to be that host. So they said, okay, what about you, Diego? And he was a doctor, so he's like, yeah, no, I'll stay with you guys. So he's slept on the plane with them.

Are they scared that they're just going to leave them? I think so. So they slept in the plane with them instead of the tent with the other doctors. Next, the dismembered bodies to the half-eaten hands. It was urine infested. I mean, this was a smelly plane, but this was also the doctor's birthday. So they sang Happy Birthday to him. And the whole night, he just reassured the kids,

what you did is okay. Everyone's gonna understand once they get the full story, what you did is okay. And the next morning, all the kids woke up before the medical staff in the tent. So they stood outside the plane and they started chanting, brag fest, brag fest. And so the men team, they wake up and they start bringing out the food.

They're like, what do you want? We've got tea, we've got coffee. They're like, we want it, all bitch. And they get rescued and they too. We're taken to the hospital. They were rescued December 22nd so internationally this was known as the Christmas Miracle. The media circus was in full storm. I mean everywhere they went people tried to talk to them. Eventually somehow it got leaked that the kids were forced to eat the bodies of their friends to survive.

Of course I mean these are crazy headlines but what went really wrong is that it got really out of hand. A lot of newspapers started speculating that the avalanche didn't happen, and these kids killed the weaker ones in order to eat them. Who the hell comes up with stories like that? Exactly, because they're just assuming that you can't survive the avalanche. So this must not be real then, because we have never heard, but you've also never heard of people surviving 72 days in the mountains, so shut up, lady.

You don't know anything. Pictures from the site were leaked with LIMS, just hanging out near the plains. Magazines were just printing this front page. I mean, magazines that specialized in porn were leaking these pictures. It was really bad. So the survivors, they had wanted to take a train home

back to Uruguay, but the media circus was so out of hand that they had to return to Uruguay on a plane. And ironically, this plane was delayed for an hour for bad weather. But they landed in Uruguay safely, and they were seen as international heroes. Regardless of what happened in that mountain, everyone was pretty much, I mean, yeah,

people were kind of intrigued by the cannibalism, and I'm not going to lie. That's why I was intrigued by this case. But I think, you know, at the end of the day, it's really just, they're crazy. I mean, they're heroes. I don't know what to say. They're so brave. And the parents of the dead, whose bodies were consumed, they had so much love in their hearts that they showed overwhelming, undenying support

and love to the survivors. And this really helped the press realize, okay, yeah, they did eat their friends. But wouldn't you? This is what they had to do. And one of the parents of the dead whose body was eaten, even wrote, we are so happy to have them back among us. We are so glad that there were 45 of them because this helped at least 16 of them return. Thank God for the 45 were there for 16 homes have regained their children. At first a lot of these survivors had a hard time getting back to regular life. They were highly irritable, they had a lot of PTSD and overall they just would not stop eating like nobody none of them would stop eating It was hard. You'd have to pry plates out of them. It was difficult

Some of them were super media friendly some of them weren't this caused kind of a divide initially between the survivors But eventually they all came together because they felt everything that happened on that mountain just changed our lives I mean money is meaningless now. In that mountain, if anyone said, give me your cigarette and I'll give you $5,000, no one would have traded it. Because what even is money? And every single day, money has no meaning. Cars have no meaning.

Looking cool has no meaning. And eventually at the end of this, they were left with the only things that matter. Their family, their loved ones, and their faith in God. And so each year, the remaining survivors get together on December 22nd to commemorate the day that they were rescued. And that is the story of what happened in the mountains with the rugby team. I know a lot of people know about this, about the cannibalism aspect, which yes, it is fascinating, but I think when you really get into all of the details, I think it's more fascinating to see how they formed

almost like the structure, these teams, the people were divided about how they were, you know, approaching the situation, and how people stepped up. I mean, Nando was really known to be such a timid guy. Yeah. And then he stepped up to be almost this hero to all of these survivors.

It's fascinating. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is crazy. Are they still around? Yeah. Well, I know, I believe some have passed. But, and that is the story. Let me know.

I know this one was a little bit different than a crime where there's like three people involved. And I get the nitty-gritty of every person's life But this one was just there are two books that I highly recommend I'm gonna link them in my source notes amazing one of them is Nando's first person account of this entire situation Of losing his parent of losing his mom losing his sister the the journey the climb all of that So make sure to check that out and I hope you guys enjoyed and I'll see you guys for the mini-sode. Bye the the journey, the climb, all of that. So make sure to check that out and I hope you guys enjoyed and I'll see you guys for the mini-sode.

Bye!