Nando Parrado Crossed the Andes to Save the Crash Survivors
After the 1972 Andes plane crash, Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa crossed the mountains on foot to find help for the remaining survivors.
On 13 October 1972, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashed high in the Andes while carrying a rugby team and other passengers to Chile. Nando Parrado survived the impact but lost his mother and sister.
For more than two months, the group endured cold, avalanches, hunger and the knowledge that the official search had ended.
The decision to leave
Parrado and Roberto Canessa concluded that waiting meant death. With improvised clothing and a sleeping bag assembled from aircraft insulation, they climbed west through terrain they initially believed would reveal nearby Chilean valleys.
Instead, they saw more mountains.
13 October 1972
Flight 571 crashes in the Andes
29 October
Avalanche strikes the fuselage shelter
12 December
Parrado and Canessa begin the final trek
20 December
They encounter Sergio Catalán
22–23 December
Remaining survivors rescued
Ten days across the mountains
The pair continued until they reached lower country and encountered Chilean muleteer Sergio Catalán across a river. Catalán carried their message to authorities. Helicopters then rescued the survivors at the crash site.
Sixteen people ultimately survived.
Leadership without mythology
Parrado’s achievement was not solitary. Canessa made the crossing with him; other survivors prepared equipment and sustained the group; Catalán connected them to rescue. The story is powerful precisely because survival became collective work.
Why it endures
The Andes survivors faced choices that outsiders can discuss only with humility. Parrado’s trek represents action after hope had narrowed to one dangerous option: cross the mountains or remain unseen.
Sources
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