1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,920 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:06,560 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hey y'all, I'm Eves and welcome to This 3 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:09,720 Speaker 1: Day in History Class, where we uncover a new layer 4 00:00:09,760 --> 00:00:25,040 Speaker 1: of history every day. Today is December. The day was 5 00:00:25,079 --> 00:00:30,360 Speaker 1: December nineteen seventy two, seventy two days after Euroguaine Air 6 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:33,640 Speaker 1: Force Flight five seventy one crashed into the Andies. The 7 00:00:33,720 --> 00:00:38,800 Speaker 1: final survivors were rescued. On October twelfth, nineteen seventy two, 8 00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:44,600 Speaker 1: a twin turboprop fair Child f H left Carrasco International 9 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:48,919 Speaker 1: Airport in monte Video and was headed to Santiago. There 10 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:51,680 Speaker 1: were forty passengers and five crew members on the flight, 11 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:55,000 Speaker 1: which was carrying a Euroguaine rugby team that was said 12 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:59,400 Speaker 1: to play a match in the Chilean capital. Juliodas was 13 00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:02,720 Speaker 1: the commander on the flight and Dante Etre Lagarrada was 14 00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:05,520 Speaker 1: the co pilot. The trip would take them over the 15 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:08,920 Speaker 1: Andes Mountains, which could be a difficult area to traverse, 16 00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:12,040 Speaker 1: and that day the weather was pour over the Andes, 17 00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:15,840 Speaker 1: so the flight had to stop in Mendoza, Argentina. The 18 00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:18,440 Speaker 1: plane left Mendoza the next day, though the weather was 19 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:22,880 Speaker 1: still not ideal. Ferraras had experience flying over the Andes, 20 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:26,680 Speaker 1: but the fair Child plane could only ascend so high. 21 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:29,240 Speaker 1: The flight had to go over a pass with lower 22 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:34,199 Speaker 1: peaks called the Planchon Pass. Co pilot Lagrada was flying 23 00:01:34,240 --> 00:01:38,440 Speaker 1: the plane as Colonel Ferraras trained him. Lagada directed the 24 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:41,080 Speaker 1: plane toward my lad Way on the way to plant 25 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:44,399 Speaker 1: and Pass, but by the time the flight had reached 26 00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:49,720 Speaker 1: the pass, cloud cover had not lifted. At PM, Lagada 27 00:01:49,960 --> 00:01:52,960 Speaker 1: radio the Santiago Airport and told them he was flying 28 00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:56,440 Speaker 1: over Planchon and would be at the Chilan town Curico soon. 29 00:01:57,520 --> 00:02:00,480 Speaker 1: Minutes later, they said they had reached Currico and air 30 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:04,960 Speaker 1: traffic control authorized them to descend. The plane descended, but 31 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:08,040 Speaker 1: as it went into the clouds, it started shaking and 32 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:11,800 Speaker 1: soon hit a strong downward air current. The plane dropped 33 00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:15,200 Speaker 1: thousands of feet and soon the plane crashed into the mountain, 34 00:02:15,639 --> 00:02:18,320 Speaker 1: ripping off a wing and separating the tail and a 35 00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:22,440 Speaker 1: rear portion of the fuselage from the plane. Several passengers 36 00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:26,600 Speaker 1: died in the collision. Some people who survived and crash 37 00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:32,440 Speaker 1: landed began helping passengers who were hurt. Others had lost consciousness. 38 00:02:32,440 --> 00:02:37,000 Speaker 1: Over the next several days, more passengers died. Search and 39 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:39,720 Speaker 1: rescue teams were sent out to the Andies not long 40 00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:43,079 Speaker 1: after the plane went missing, but rescuers did not know 41 00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:45,920 Speaker 1: exactly where the plane crashed and it was hard to 42 00:02:45,919 --> 00:02:49,640 Speaker 1: see the downed plane in the snow. Eight days after 43 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:54,079 Speaker 1: it began, the official search was called off. The passengers 44 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:56,680 Speaker 1: managed to find a radio and discovered that the search 45 00:02:56,760 --> 00:03:01,200 Speaker 1: had ended. They were discouraged, but passenger or Gustavo Nicolich 46 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:03,639 Speaker 1: told people that they would make it out on their own. 47 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:07,120 Speaker 1: They did what they could to survive. They used the 48 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:10,520 Speaker 1: fuselage as a shelter, and they made sun advisors from 49 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:14,960 Speaker 1: the plane into sunglasses to prevent snowblindness. All the while, 50 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:20,280 Speaker 1: more passengers died. Food was scarce, so the survivors decided 51 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:23,919 Speaker 1: to begin eating the dead to stay alive, and in 52 00:03:24,040 --> 00:03:28,360 Speaker 1: October twenty nine, tragedy struck again when an avalanche buried 53 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:33,079 Speaker 1: the fuselage and killed more people. So the survivors decided 54 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:35,400 Speaker 1: they would hike out of the Andes to search for help. 55 00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:40,839 Speaker 1: Nando Perado and Roberto Carnessa eventually ran into a few men, 56 00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:46,080 Speaker 1: one of whom was Serio Catalan. Catalan gave them food 57 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:49,720 Speaker 1: and then told officials that survivors were still in the mountains. 58 00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:53,240 Speaker 1: The two of them were rescued by helicopter on December one, 59 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:58,960 Speaker 1: and by all the survivors were rescued. Sixteen people survived 60 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:02,760 Speaker 1: the disaster. The press jumped on the story of the crash, 61 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:06,560 Speaker 1: and in the following years, books, films, and TV shows 62 00:04:06,640 --> 00:04:11,080 Speaker 1: recounted the disaster. I'm Eve Steffcote and hopefully you know 63 00:04:11,200 --> 00:04:14,279 Speaker 1: a little more about history today than you did yesterday. 64 00:04:14,880 --> 00:04:18,039 Speaker 1: If you've seen any good history means lately, you can 65 00:04:18,080 --> 00:04:21,839 Speaker 1: send them to us on social media at t d 66 00:04:21,880 --> 00:04:26,160 Speaker 1: I h C podcast, or if you are so inclined, 67 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:29,479 Speaker 1: you can send us a message at this day at 68 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:33,440 Speaker 1: I heart media dot com. Thanks again for listening. We'll 69 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:39,119 Speaker 1: see same place tomorrow. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, 70 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:41,760 Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 71 00:04:41,839 --> 00:04:43,120 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.