Meet Fernando ‘Nando’ Parrado: The 1972 Andes plane crash survivor who inspired Netflix’s thriller Society of the Snow
MIRACLE survivor of the Andes plane crash was travelling with family and friends when the aircraft went down in the mountains.
Fernando Parrado, 74, spent two months trapped in the mountains with the other survivors.
Who is Fernando Parrado?
Fernando “Nando” Seler Parrado Dolgay is one of the sixteen survivors of the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571.
He survived for 72 days without food, water or winter clothing at the altitude of more than 9,800 feet.
At the time of the crash, he was a regular 22-year-old waiting to start university to study business.
Fernando was a team member of an amateur rugby team, Old Christians, who were invited to play a match in Chile.
Fernando was initially thought to be dead which proved to be fortunate.
“They left me in the snow. They didn’t give me any water. They didn’t hydrate me,” he told the Guardian.
Later on, neuroscientists would inform him that the dehydration and cold prevented his head injuries from swelling and killing him.
In an interview with Euronews, he recalled being in a coma for four and a half days after the crash.
When he woke up, he found out his mother and younger sister died in the accident, along with two of his best friends.
A week after the crash, they received the news over the radio that the search efforts would be stopped.
With no protective clothing or climbing gear, Fernando, along with Roberto Canessa, climbed through the Andes mountains for ten days to seek help.
They eventually stumbled upon Sergio Catalan Martinez, a shepherd who sounded the alarm.
Fernando subsequently lost 45 kilograms and called the experience “a an absolute black hell”.
“Compared to what we went through, hell is comfortable,” he said.
What happened to Uruguayan Air Force flight 571?
Uruguayan Air force flight 571 was a chartered plane of a Fairchild FH-227D on route from Montevideo, Uruguay to Santiago, Chile.
The flight was chartered to take the members of the amateur Old Christians Club rugby team to a match with an English team, Old Boys Club.
It took off from Carrasco International Airport on October 12, 1972.
Due to bad weather, the flight touched down early in Mendoza, Argentina where the team stayed overnight.
It took off from Mendoza on Friday, October 13 as the rugby squad made fun of the date’s unfortunate significance.
An hour into the flight, an inexperienced co-pilot failed to notice that the plane was 43miles away from the city where they were supposed to land.
Lieutenant-Colonel Dante Héctor Lagurara initiated the plane’s descent, unaware of the fact that they were still flying over the Andes.
As the plane descended it struck a mountain and both the wings were sheared off. What remained of it slid down a glacier at 220mph for 2,379ft before it smashed into ice.
On board there were 45 people, including the crew, friends, family, and team, as well as a stranger who had purchased a seat to attend a wedding.
Three crew members and nine passengers died immediately after the crash.
Another 17 died from injuries and suffocation due to an avalanche that occurred days later.
After 10 days, the remaining survivors learned from a radio on the plane that the search had been called off.
They would have to endure 72 days of extreme hardships, including starvation, freezing temperatures and avalanches.
How were the Andes plane crash survivors rescued?
The survivors witnessed planes fly over the crash scene three times but the white fuselage was hidden by the snow, making it impossible for the rescuers to identify it.
After just eight days of searching, rescue efforts were called off due to the difficult circumstances that left the searchers with little prospect of finding anyone still alive.
On October 21, after searching for almost 142 hours, the searchers called it quits, believing there was little prospect of anyone surviving the crash.
After the snow melted in December, they intended to pick up the hunt for the victims again.
Surrounded by glacier – with no protection gear or view of the horizon- the party of survivors chose to wait until summer to make their escape from 11,718 feet above sea level.
From the onset, the survivors had very little food. All they had consisted of eight chocolate bars, three small jars of jam, a tin of mussels, a tin of almonds and several bottles of wine.
Their small stock dwindled quickly and they resorted to eating parts of the airplane, such as the leather on the outside of the seats.
This made them sicker.
It was then that they realised they had an agonising decision to make.
Survivor Roberto Canessa was only 19 when he suggested that they eat their friends’ remains in order to survive.
As time passed, the weather improved, but there were only 16 survivors left — less than half of those who survived the impact.
Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa volunteered to make the trek on December 12, because it was clear the most sickly survivors would soon die.
The two men managed to find help ten days later and helicopters were dispatched.
Where is Fernando Parrado now?
In the years after his rescue, Fernando tried his hand at a career as a professional race car driver but eventually gave it up after his marriage.
He then decided to grow his father’s business instead, becoming a television personality in the process.
He is also a motivational speaker, having co-authored a book about his experience in the Andes called Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home.
Fernando was portrayed by Ethan Hawke in the 1993 feature film Alive and by Argentine actor Agustín Pardella in the 2023 Spanish feature film Society of the Snow.