Encore: Plane Crash in the Andes | The Crash | 1
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Hey, I'm Cassie DePeckel, host of Against the Odds, where we tell true stories of people triumphing in the toughest conditions. On October 13, 1972, a small plane carrying a Uruguayan rugby team crashed, leaving them stranded in the Andes. Trapped on a snow-covered mountain with no hope of rescue, the men had to resort to extreme measures to survive—the

Last October, 16 of the survivors gathered to mark the 50th anniversary of the crash. We're re-airing this story now, a testament to their determination. This episode originally aired in 2021. It's mid-afternoon on October 13th, 1972. Nando Parado looks out the window of a small turboprop plane as it flies through the towering, snow-covered peaks of the Andes Mountains.

It's spring in the Southern Hemisphere, but the sky is gray and dark clouds float past Nando's window. Nando plays rugby for the Old Christians, one of the best amateur teams in Uruguay. The team has chartered this plane to take the players and their supporters to a game in Santiago, Chile.

Nando is 22 years old and a serious athlete, but they're just playing an exhibition game in Chile, so this trip is more like a vacation. The flight already feels like a party. His teammates, mostly students in their late teens and early 20s, are chatting and laughing, moving up and down the aisle of the plane. Nando feels a tap on his shoulder.

is Panchito Abal, who's sitting next to him. Switch seats with me, Nando. I want to see the mountains. Nando takes one last look out the window before he gets up. He's in awe of the Andes.

Uruguay is coastal and low-lying, and Nando's never seen mountains like these before. They're so tall, the plane has to fly between the peaks, not above them. To him, they look like the jagged spine of a prehistoric beast. Nando stands to switch seats and hears someone shout, "Think fast, Nando!" A rugby ball flies at his head.

Nando laughs as he catches it and tosses it forward. Soon, the ball is flying around the cabin. The steward stands up to quiet them. "Put the ball away! Settle down, please!" Nando leans across the aisle and winks at his mother, Eugenia, and younger sister, Susie, who have come along to watch the match. But then, without warning, he feels his stomach bottom out. The plane drops suddenly, then rises, then drops again.

His teammates whoop and cheer as if they're riding a roller coaster. The steward comes over the intercom. "We've hit a pocket of bumpy air, but we should be through it shortly. Stay in your seats, please." Finally, the plane levels out. Nando reassures his mother with a big thumbs up. Then, he feels Panchito tugging at his arm. "Nando, look!"

Should we be flying this close to the mountains? Nando bends forward and peers out the small window. The plane's wing is only feet away from a massive wall of stone and ice. And then, the plane suddenly drops again.

Nando's stomach lurches. He grabs the armrests so tightly his knuckles turn white. The plane shakes violently back and forth as if it's about to break apart. The whoops and cheers of his teammates have turned to panicked screams. Nando looks over at his mother and sister. They are clinging to each other as their bodies convulse with the turbulence.

There's a huge slamming sound and the deafening screech of grinding metal. From behind him, he feels an icy blast of air. When he looks over his shoulder, he sees only clouds and sky. The entire tail section of the plane is gone. In the next instant, Nando is ripped from his seat, and then everything goes black.

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Progressive Casualty Insurance Company & Affiliates. Comparison rates not available in all states or situations. Prices vary based on how you buy. From Wondery, I'm Cassie DePeckel, and this is Against the Odds. Imagine your plane crashes in the heart of the Andes Mountains. You have no winter clothes and only a few light snacks for food. The landscape is barren, and as night falls, the temperature drops below zero.

And you have no idea if help is coming. This is what a Uruguayan rugby team faced when their small passenger plane, a Fairchild FH227, crashed in the high Andes on October 13th, 1972. Stranded on the snow-covered side of a mountain with no hope of rescue, they would have to do the unthinkable to survive.

This is the story of how these young men battled starvation, hypothermia, blizzards, and avalanches for more than two months before finally finding the strength to save themselves. This is episode one, The Crash. Roberto Canessa opens his eyes, shocked that he's still alive. Just seconds ago, their plane crashed into the side of a mountain, then slid downhill like a bobsled.

Roberto was sure they'd slam into the rocks or fall off a cliff. But instead, when he looks out the window, he sees that they've come to a rest in a field of snow. He takes a quick scan of his body. He can move his hands, his toes. He looks up and down. Somehow, he is unharmed. But when he gets to his feet and scans the cabin, it's chaos. The front of the plane is piled high with seats that were ripped out and flung forward on impact.

He turns to the back of the plane and finds nothing but a gaping hole where the tail should be. Up and down the fuselage, there are arms and legs sticking out from between crushed seats. Bodies lying prone in the aisle, all belonging to his friends and teammates. Roberto is a 19-year-old medical student, so he has enough experience to treat minor wounds, but nothing has prepared him for this.

He looks over to his friend, Gustavo Zerbino, who's clutching the seat back in front of him and muttering the Lord's Prayer. Roberto puts his hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay?" Gustavo finishes praying, then nods. Like Roberto, Gustavo is a medical student, though he's completed just one year. "Come on, our friends need help." Roberto takes the lead as he and Gustavo move through the plane, tending to the injured.

The first victim he comes to is Susie Parado, one of his rugby teammates' sisters. Roberto kneels beside her in the aisle. She's mumbling incoherently, and blood is pouring from her forehead. When Roberto wipes her face clean with his sleeve, he finds the cut is superficial, but he fears she's suffered more serious internal injuries.

Susie's mother, Eugenia, lies next to her. Her head is twisted awkwardly to one side, and her mouth is hanging open. Roberto leans over Susie and touches Eugenia's neck with two fingers. He can't find a pulse. He checks her wrist, too, but it's no use. How will he tell his friend Nando that his mother has died?

Roberto makes a sign of the cross, then turns to Gustavo. She must have broken her neck in the crash. Roberto works his way through the fuselage from back to front, tending to the injured. He finds one teammate with a badly torn calf muscle and uses a white shirt as a makeshift bandage, tying it back into place. Another young man has been impaled by a metal tube. While Roberto distracts him, Gustavo pulls it out.

The man howls in pain. Next, Roberto finds his teammate Nando. He's lying unconscious near the front of the plane, his face covered in bruises, his head badly swollen. Roberto suspects his skull is fractured. He touches Nando's neck and is amazed when he feels a pulse. Roberto has known Nando since they were little kids and doesn't want to leave him like this.

But he has to be practical. There's nothing he can do for a fractured skull, and there are others who need his help. So he takes inventory of the other bodies around him and makes a tough choice. He has to move on and look for other survivors. Carlitos Pais stands at the spot where the tail section broke away from the plane. He sticks one foot out into the frigid air like a swimmer testing the water.

At 18, he's the youngest member of the old Christians rugby team. This trip was supposed to be a series of firsts for him. His first time on a plane, his first time out of Uruguay, his first time playing an international rugby match. Carlito survived the crash without so much as a scratch. But his friend, Carlos Valletta, who was sitting just one row behind him, was thrown out of the plane.

Carlitos tells himself that if he is still alive, then Carlos might be too. He scans the steep slopes in every direction, but can't spot anything. Then he catches a whiff of something familiar, something that reminds him of his father's garage back in Montevideo. He smells gas. Thinking the plane is about to explode, he hurls himself out of the fuselage and into the snow.

He covers his head with his arms, but the explosion doesn't come. After a while, he gets up, dusts himself off, and looks around. The Fairchild came to rest at the base of a steep and towering slope. They are surrounded on three sides by massive walls of snow, ice, and gray rock. To the fourth side is a narrow valley that winds its way deeper into the Andes. Carlitos is grateful to be alive.

He realizes he's probably the first human being ever to step foot on this spot. There's no sign of life anywhere. No vegetation, no trees, no birds or insects. Just snow, rock, and clouds. But then he sees something else. A figure stumbling towards him from a half mile up the slope. As it comes closer, Carlitos realizes it's Carlos Valleita.

his friend who was seated in the tail section of the plane. Somehow, he survived. Carlitos begins waving his arms and shouting, thrilled to see his friend. "Carlos, over here!" But Carlos doesn't seem to hear. As he stumbles down the mountainside, he looks confused, disoriented. He shifts direction away from Carlitos and towards a sheer cliff face.

Carlos, no! This way! It's me, Carlitos! Follow my voice! But it's no use. Carlos can't seem to hear him, and he's too far away to reach him in time. All Carlitos can do is watch in horror as his friend staggers to the ledge, tumbles over the side, and disappears.

At that moment, Carlitos realizes that just because some of them survived the crash doesn't mean that they're going to make it out of here alive. Roberto Canessa is searching the overhead compartments for medical supplies when he hears shouting from the cockpit. He runs to the front of the plane, only to find the door barricaded behind a wall of uprooted seats. He pulls on one of the seats, but it's stuck in place.

With the door blocked, Roberto figures the only way to access the cockpit is from outside. He moves quickly to the back of the plane and jumps out into the snow. After a few steps, he feels like he's wading through wet cement. Roberto's a top athlete in peak physical condition. His nickname on the team is "Muscles," but the thin air is almost impossible to breathe.

The snow he's climbing through comes up to his waist. When he reaches the front, Roberto sees what stopped the Fairchild from sliding all the way down the mountain: an immense snowbank. If the plane had hit solid rock instead of snow, they'd probably all be dead. But still, the nose of the plane is completely crushed. Above it, the cockpit windows are just out of Roberto's reach.

But the door to the front luggage compartment below the cockpit is accessible. Roberto grabs the handle and pulls. To his surprise, the door opens easily. He climbs inside and instantly hears the shouting again. Now he can make out the words. It's the same phrase over and over.

We passed Carrico. We passed Carrico. All Roberto knows about Carrico is that it's a city in the wine region of Chile. His parents take regular trips to the vineyards. It's not in the Andes. So how could they have passed it? The pilots must have gotten lost. Inside the luggage compartment, Roberto finds a small round hatch that leads up into the cockpit. He hesitates for a moment before opening it.

The first thing he sees is the dead pilot. The crash drove the instrument panel into his chest with such force that it must have killed him instantly. The co-pilot nearly suffered the same fate. The instrument panel is pinning him to his seat, but he's conscious. He nods at Roberto, then goes back to desperately repeating that same phrase. We passed Corrico. We passed Corrico.

Roberto pushes on the instrument panel with all his strength, but it won't budge. All he can do is rip out the co-pilot's seat cushions, which gives him a few extra inches of breathing room. The co-pilot gasps, then looks up at Roberto. Please, water? Roberto sticks his hand through a broken pane of glass and scoops up a ball of snow. The co-pilot eats it from his palm, then smiles.

Roberto turns his attention back to the instrument panel. The radio appears intact. He picks up the handle and clicks the button, then listens. Nothing. He leans close to the co-pilot's ear. "Can you tell me how to get a signal?" At first, Roberto isn't sure that the co-pilot has understood, but then he starts calling out step-by-step instructions. But it's no use. The radio is dead. Roberto turns to leave.

Without a crowbar, there's nothing more he can do to help the co-pilot. Then he hears the man say something else, almost a whisper. There's a revolver in my flight bag. I'm begging you, bring it to me. Roberto looks away in disgust. The co-pilot is the one survivor whose training might help them get off this mountain alive. And even he has already given up.

Marcelo Perez stands in the snow outside the fuselage and watches the sky grow dark. By his watch, the Fairchild crashed at a little after 3 p.m., and now it's almost 6. He can't understand why help hasn't arrived. It should be simple. All the rescuers have to do is follow the plane's flight path, but no pilot would risk navigating the towering peaks of the Andes after dark.

If help hasn't come by now, then it won't come until morning. He and the other survivors will be spending the night on the mountain. As captain of the old Christian rugby team, Marcelo feels responsible for his players' survival. At 25, he's one of the oldest members, and his stocky build and receding hairline give him an air of authority. He knows that his teammates need the leadership now more than ever.

Nighttime temperatures in the Andes can hit 40 below. And if they don't start preparing for the brutal night ahead, more people will die. Marcelo gathers his uninjured players outside the Fuse Lodge and addresses them with the same confident and determined tone he'd use in a rugby scrum. Tomorrow morning, we will wake up to the sound of helicopters. In the meantime, we'll have to survive the night here.

He divides the team into crews. One will carry broken seats out of the cabin. Another team will carry out bodies. It's a brutal task, but it has to be done. With the tail torn off and the pile of tangled seats smashed against the cockpit door, there's only about 20 feet of space left in the cabin to lie down in. Nowhere near enough room for more than 30 people.

For young men used to living at sea level, the labor is grueling. Marcelo watches them gasp for air as they drag mangled seats and carry bodies out into the snow. Despite the dire conditions, the old Christians work steadily and without complaint. Marcelo is more proud of them now than he's ever been after a victory on the rugby field. By the time the sun sets, there's enough room for all of the survivors to huddle inside the fuselage.

The team has even built a wall of seats and suitcases across the broken tail section of the plane to keep out the wind. But as night falls, the temperature plummets. Everyone is shivering. And then hysteria settles in as people start to imagine the worst. The injured moan and sob in pain. One player in a daze gets up and tries to leave, saying he just wants to run to the corner store.

Marcello watches it all happen and his heart breaks. He knows they have to make it until the morning. Well after midnight, when the fuselage has started to quiet down, someone screams at the top of their lungs. God, take me! Take me now!

It's Senora Mariani, the only passenger on the flight not affiliated with the old Christians. She was on her way to Santiago for her daughter's wedding. Her broken leg is pinned under a seat, and she's been moaning nonstop for hours. Finally, Carlitos Paez snaps. "Shut your mouth or I'll send you to God right now. I'll bash your face in." Immediately, another player starts weeping uncontrollably.

I want to go home. Just let me go home. Marcelo does his best to calm the atmosphere. He passes around a bottle of wine he bought at the airport. He holds Signora Mariani's hand, and he reminds everyone again and again that they only need to survive this one night. Rescue will come in the morning.

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Head over to Symbiotica.com and use code "Odds" for 20% off and free shipping on your subscription order. Roberto Canessa wakes to team captain Marcelo Perez tearing down the wall of luggage that sheltered them from the wind. More and more daylight filters into the cabin of the Fairchild until finally the makeshift wall is gone. Roberto watches his teammates get up one by one and walk outside.

They all want to be there and wave and shout when the helicopters arrive. Roberto would like to be there too, but he has to check on the injured. He starts with Signora Mariani, who is lying just a few feet away in the fuselage. Her left leg is still trapped in the metal frame of a crushed seat. The leg needs to be amputated, but Roberto isn't about to try it himself. Hopefully there will be a qualified surgeon traveling with the rescue team.

In the meantime, he has other patients to visit. The next one he sees is Panchito Abal, who was sitting next to Nando Parado when the plane went down. Like Nando, he suffered a severe head wound, but Panchito's limbs are so stiff that Roberto knows he's dead even before he checks for a pulse. He turns to Nando, who's lying just a few feet away, expecting him to be dead too, but Nando is still breathing.

The freezing temperatures have even reduced the swelling in his head, but he's still unconscious. Roberto tries to wipe away some of the blood that's frozen against his scalp, wishing he could do more. Roberto's final visit is to the cockpit. The co-pilot remains locked in place by the instrument panel. His head is slumped forward, and when Roberto touches his shoulder, he doesn't react. Like Panchito, he died sometime during the night.

Roberto is Roman Catholic and believes that suicide is the ultimate sin. But the doctor in him wonders if handing the co-pilot his gun would have been the humane thing to do. When Roberto returns to the fuselage, he senses something is not right. It's too quiet. Then he realizes that Signora Mariani, who has been crying almost nonstop, has gone silent. He walks over and crouches beside her.

Her mouth is open and her body is slack. Roberto says a prayer, then closes her eyes. Almost numb now, Roberto walks outside to find Marcelo Perez. He needs to update him on the dead and the wounded. Roberto finds the team captain sitting on a suitcase, staring up at the empty sky. We lost three more. There are at least five others who are badly injured.

Carlitos Paez is standing nearby. When he hears that Senora Mariani is dead, he buries his face in his hands. Just last night, he threatened to kill her. "I didn't mean it. I swear I didn't mean it." Roberto watches as Marcelo gets up and puts an arm around Carlitos' shoulders. He wants to break down too. He wants to grieve. But he knows there's no time for that.

He has to do whatever he can to keep the rest of his teammates alive. Marcelo scans the gray skies for any sign of a helicopter. It's been 24 hours since the crash, and for the first time, he's beginning to fear the worst: that no rescue is coming. Night two on the mountain is beginning to look like a certainty. Marcelo knows that the worst thing the survivors can do is sit around and despair.

They need to take charge of their own fate. In the short term, this means finding something to eat. Marcelo puts the old Christians to work, searching for anything edible. He walks from one section of the plane to another, supervising as his players scour the overhead bins, the luggage compartment, and the cockpit. Afterwards, the team reassembles in the fuselage, and Marcelo takes inventory of what they've found. Most of it is alcohol.

three bottles of wine, one bottle of whiskey, and one bottle of creme de menthe. They also have eight chocolate bars, a handful of caramels, some dried nuts and fruit, three jars of jam, and two tins of mussels. It's far less than Marcelo had hoped for. He tells everyone the hard truth. They'll have to ration their supply. Marcelo has the survivors line up outside the fuselage.

He has no glasses or cups, so he gives them each a small square of chocolate and a deodorant cap filled with wine. He feels like a priest handing out communion. Except this isn't communion. It's lunch. It isn't enough to curb anyone's hunger. And there are 28 mouths to feed. Marcelo has no idea how long it will be before the rescuers find them. He has to think of something else to feed the fellow survivors.

Nando Parado opens his eyes to find himself lying in a room he doesn't recognize. There are no windows. The ceiling is metal. The only light comes from a door that's slightly ajar. He has no idea where he is. He's freezing cold, and the top of his skull is throbbing. When he tries to sit up, the pain becomes unbearable. Then he feels a hand on his shoulder.

He looks over and sees his friend Roberto Canessa beside him. Roberto's eyes are bloodshot and his face is drawn. He seems to have aged decades. Where are we? What's going on? Our plane crashed in the Andes. We've been stranded here for three days. We moved you into the luggage compartment because it's warmer in here. Now the memories come flooding back to Nando. He remembers the look of terror on his mother's face.

Roberto points to where she's lying nearby, and Nando crawls over to her. A blood-stained cloth is wrapped around her head, and her feet are black and purple.

She stares at Nando without recognizing him and asks for their mother. Nando looks back at Roberto. What do I do? Rub her feet. They're frostbitten. Try to get the blood flowing. I'll be back with some food. Roberto leaves. Nando wraps his hand around Susie's feet and rubs the soles with his thumbs. It's me, Susie. It's Nando. She looks at him but doesn't know who he is. She cries out again for her mother.

Nando keeps rubbing her feet, but they don't seem to get any warmer. When he rubs harder, flakes of discolored skin come off on his thumbs. Nando knows that his sister is dying. He prays for rescuers to arrive soon, but remembers Roberto saying that they've already been stranded here for three days. If no help has arrived yet, he wonders if it ever will. His body begins to shake, but he won't let himself cry.

He must stay strong for Susie for as long as she needs him. Roberto lines up outside the fuselage with the other survivors to wait for his daily cup of wine. As his eyes scan the sky, he spots something miraculous. A small plane flying beneath the clouds, approaching from the east. He steps out of the line and shouts to Marcelo Perez, Look, a plane!

Marcelo follows Roberto's outstretched arm and sees it too. He begins shouting instructions. "Everyone fan out! Make sure he can't miss us!" Roberto is holding the sheet of aluminum he uses to carry food to his patients. He lifts it over his head and tilts it toward the sun to catch a reflection. All around him, his teammates jump and wave their arms. He can hear the engine as the plane gets closer.

He cranes his neck as it passes directly overhead. Then, just before it disappears, the pilot dips one wing. Roberto turns and sees Marcelo and Carlitos on their knees, blowing kisses at the sky. They're thinking what he's thinking. The pilot gave them a signal. Roberto feels his eyes well up. This time, he has no doubt. They were spotted. Help is on the way.

While the others pump their fists and hug each other, Roberto heads into the fuselage. He wants to celebrate the news with two of his favorite patients, Rafael Echevaran, the player with the badly torn calf muscle, and Arturo Nogueira, who broke both legs in the crash. Both have suffered greatly, with little complaint, and Roberto wants to do something nice for them. This is a moment to rejoice. ♪

He walks over to the suitcase where Marcelo keeps the food supply and pulls out an unopened bottle of wine. Why worry about rationing when soon enough they'll be eating real food and sleeping in real beds? He carries the bottle to the front of the fuselage where Arturo and Rafael lie side by side. We're saved, boys. Rafael raises one eyebrow, like he thinks maybe this is a trick. Saved?

Didn't you hear that plane just now? The pilot saw us. He gave us a signal. Arturo and Rafael cheer. There's no corkscrew, so Roberto pushes the cork down into the bottle with his thumb. He takes a swig, then passes the bottle to Arturo. Arturo grins and takes a long drink. The three of them pass the bottle back and forth until there's nothing left. Then Roberto lies down to take a nap.

Sometime later, he's woken by a sharp blow to the shins. When he opens his eyes, he finds Marcelo standing over him, brandishing the empty wine bottle. "How could you be so stupid, Roberto? That's a third of our supply gone. What if it takes them weeks to find us? What are we supposed to live on?" Marcelo's red-faced with anger. Through the cabin windows, Roberto sees that the sun is setting.

It's been hours since they saw the plane, and still, no help has come. Roberto feels a hot thrush of shame as he realizes how foolish he's been. He looks up at Marcelo. "I'm sorry, I thought-" "Save your apology for the first one of us who dies from hunger." Marcelo glares at him with contempt, then turns and walks away, still clutching the empty wine bottle.

Then, Roberto's other teammates file into the cabin and begin preparing for another night on the mountain. As they do, none of them will look him in the eye. What has he done? Is there any way for him to make amends?

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Someone has to hike out to look for help. But when he proposes this idea to Marcelo Perez inside the plane, the team captain shoots him down. "What you're describing would be a suicide mission. You'd freeze to death the first night." "Doing nothing is suicide, Marcelo. It's clear no help is coming. If we don't climb soon, we'll starve to death." Nando lays out his argument for climbing.

He pulls out the maps that they retrieved from the cockpit. Since he woke up, he's been studying them with Roberto. Together, they've decided they're probably in the Chilean foothills on the western side of the Andes Mountains. That means they need to head even further west to get out of the mountain range. Nando is convinced that the big mountain in front of them is the only thing standing between them and civilization.

When Nando is finished, Carlitos Paez stands and raises a fist. He's been listening in. "To the West is Chile." Nando watches as one by one others join Carlitos. Soon, a chant of "To the West, Chile" echoes through the fuselage. For the first time since he woke up, Nando smiles. The survivors have a new rallying cry.

One that will drive them over the mountain. They're not ready to give up. Roberto Canessa takes a cautious step forward. His foot is tied to an airplane seat as a makeshift snowshoe. It's not easy to walk on, but it stops him from sinking waist deep into the snow. Roberto grins over at his teammate, Fido Strouch. The snowshoes were Fido's idea. Think we can walk on these all the way to the top?

I really hope so, Roberto. It's early in the morning, the fifth day since the crash. The plan is to climb to the summit of the mountain to their west to see what lies beyond it. Roberto hopes they'll be able to see a way out. Or maybe they'll find the tail of the airplane. There might be more food in it and warm clothing. Perhaps some spare batteries for the Fairchild's radio. The past few days have been bitter and snowy.

But this day dawns sunny. Roberto knew it was time to go. Roberto watches as the rest of the team he's chosen for the scouting mission strap their feet into the makeshift snowshoes. Fido's coming, of course. Plus, Carlitos and Numa Turkati. Carlitos is the youngest of the survivors, and Numa's probably in the best shape. They start out walking briskly.

The air feels almost mild, but Roberto quickly realizes that they need to slow down. The incline gets steeper with every step, more dangerous, and the air is getting thinner. They hike for an hour at a snail's pace, and then Roberto calls for a rest. His legs are shaking as though he's been climbing for miles, though it's only been a few hundred feet.

When he looks back down toward the plane, he understands instantly why they haven't been rescued. The summit still looms far above them, and already the white hull of the Fairchild has disappeared entirely against the backdrop of snow. How would any plane be able to spot them? Then, Roberto hears a scream behind him.

He turns to find Numa on his knees, his arms reaching deep into a fissure in the snow. He's pulling Fido up and out of a hidden crevasse that nearly swallowed him whole. It's lucky they didn't lose him. Roberto climbs back down to them with Carlitos following. This is too dangerous. We should go back. Even though he nearly just fell to his death, Fido shakes his head.

We can't quit now. Even if we don't make the summit, we might still find the tail of the plane. We need more supplies. But Numa agrees with Roberto. We'll never make it to the top and back before nightfall. Let's go back and regroup. In the end, Fido is overruled, and the four young men begin the trudge back down to the plane. On the way, Roberto can tell by Carlitos' grave expression that something is bothering him.

Something more than the wind and the cold. What is it, Carlitos? We're athletes on Uruguay's top rugby team. How did this mountain beat us? A bite of chocolate and a sip of wine isn't enough food for us. We're too weak, Carlitos nods. Do you know what Nando said to me? He said if he got hungry enough, he'd eat the pilot. Crazy, right? Roberto shrugs.

He isn't ready to admit that the same idea has crossed his mind more than once. Nando Parado watches as the scouting expedition stumbles into the fuselage. Carlito sprawls out on his belly and moans. Frida lies flat on his back with his arms stiff at his sides. Roberto and Numa hardly speak.

Nando is nervous to ask what happened, but he does anyway. He's not surprised by the response. We made it less than halfway to the summit, and there's no sign of the tail. Carlitos, still lying on the floor of the cabin, interrupts. It's impossible. We'll never be able to climb our way out. Nando feels a heavy sense of defeat take over the fuselage. He scans the space and sees Marcelo getting ready to speak.

He knows what he's going to say before he even says it. We won't need to climb again. Help is already on its way. Nando knows the team captain is trying to be reassuring. But for him, the words ring hollow. If the four healthiest survivors couldn't make it halfway up one slope, then no team of rescuers in the world would be able to guide 28 starved and injured crash victims out of the Andes.

Nando returns to the luggage compartment and lies with his arms wrapped around his sister Susie, hoping to keep her warm while she sleeps. He tries to distract himself by picturing the streets of his neighborhood in Montevideo, but he can't get Carlito's words out of his head. "It's impossible. We'll never climb our way out. If that's true, then every one of them will die here. For Susie, he knows death is already near."

So Nando refuses to accept the scouts' report. He tells himself that they were soft. He would never have given up so easily. He would have blocked out the cold, the pain, and kept on climbing. In the same way that Marcelo believes that they would have been rescued, Nando clings to the belief that he will be able to make the journey once he has recovered, even if he has to make it alone. He'll start preparing now.

It's the eighth day since the crash. Nando is rubbing Susie's feet when he feels the tension leave her body. At first, he thinks she's asleep, but then he notices her breathing grow slower and slower. He leans over her and touches her face. He calls her name, but she won't open her eyes. Finally, she stops breathing altogether. Nando screams out for help.

He tries giving Susie mouth-to-mouth, but he doesn't really know how. Soon, Roberto arrives and takes over. Nando can do nothing but stand by helplessly. "Roberto, please tell me she's alive." Roberto looks up and shakes his head. "I'm sorry, Nando. You should stay with her tonight. We'll bury her in the morning." Nando nods, then lies back down next to Susie. He hugs her close to him.

For the rest of his life, he wants to remember what it felt like to hold his sister. In the morning, Nando watches with tears in his eyes as his teammates fasten nylon straps around Susie's torso and pull her to the area where the dead are buried. Nando hasn't visited this makeshift cemetery before. Even though his mother is here, he had wanted to focus on Susie while she was still alive.

But now, he looks down and recognizes his mother's blue dress peeking out from beneath a thin layer of snow. There's room beside her for Susie. Sonando takes up a sheet of metal from the wreckage and begins digging. Soon, he understands why the graves are so shallow. The snow is frozen solid. The best he can do is chip away at the surface until he's created an impression long and wide enough to hold his sister's body.

When he is done, Marcelo leads the mourners in a short prayer, and then everyone but Nando files back inside the fuselage. Standing alone over his sister and mother, Nando feels himself giving in to despair for the first time since he regained consciousness. He looks up at the mountain and feels certain that it will kill him too. But then, as he turns to head back to the fuselage, he suddenly senses that he is not alone.

He feels that someone he loves deeply is standing there with him. In his mind, he sees a clear picture of his father pacing their empty home in Montevideo, believing that he's lost his whole family, wife, daughter, and son. Nando knows he can't do anything to bring his mother and Susie back, but he can spare his father a third tragic loss. He shuts his eyes and makes a silent vow.

He will do whatever it takes to be with his father again. When the cold and hunger become more than he can bear, his love for his father will spur him on. He simply refuses to die on this mountain. This is the first episode of our four-part series, Plane Crash in the Andes.

A quick note about our scenes. In most cases, we can't know exactly what was said, but everything is based on historical research. If you'd like to learn more about this event, we highly recommend the book Alive by Pierce Paul Reed. I'm your host, Cassie DePeckel. Chris Narosny wrote this episode, edited by Matt Wise and Maura Waltz.

Audio engineer is Sergio Enriquez. Sound design is by Joe Richardson. Music by Isabel Hirschman. Production coordinator is Desi Blaylock. Produced by Brian White, Matt Olmos, Emily Frost, and Alita Rosansky. Managing producer is Matt Gant. Senior managing producer is Ryan Lohr. Senior producer is Andy Herman. Executive producers are Jenny Lauer-Beckman, Stephanie Jens, and Marsha Louis for Wondery.

I'm Dan Taberski. In 2011, something strange began to happen at the high school in Leroy, New York. I was like at my locker and she came up to me and she was like stuttering super bad. I'm like, stop f***ing around. She's like, I can't. A mystery illness, bizarre symptoms, and spreading fast. It's like doubling and tripling and it's all these girls. With a diagnosis, the state tried to keep on the down low. Everybody thought I was holding something back. Well, you were holding something back intentionally. Yeah, yeah, well, yeah.

No, it's hysteria. It's all in your head. It's not physical. Oh my gosh, you're exaggerating. Is this the largest mass hysteria since The Witches of Salem? Or is it something else entirely? Something's wrong here. Something's not right. Leroy was the new dateline and everyone was trying to solve the murder. A new limited series from Wondery and Pineapple Street Studios. Hysterical.

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