They ate their friends to survive — The shocking story of Flight 571

How a group of young men survived 72 days in the icy hell of the Andes — a true story you’ll never forget.

A Journey Turned Nightmare — And the Will to Survive Against All Odds

What started as a routine charter flight soon became one of the most harrowing survival stories in aviation history. On October 13, 1972, a Uruguayan Air Force aircraft carrying 45 people — a rugby team, their friends, and family — crashed in the heart of the Andes Mountains.

Stranded in freezing temperatures, surrounded by nothing but snow and silence, the survivors had to make unimaginable choices to stay alive for 72 long days.

The Crash: A Chain of Errors in the Heart of the Andes

Flight 571 was en route from Montevideo to Santiago, Chile, a route that crossed the rugged, high-altitude Andes mountain range, with peaks soaring over 6,000 meters.

Due to poor weather, limited visibility, and a critical navigational error, the pilots mistakenly believed they had cleared the mountains and began to descend — but they were still deep in the Andes. The aircraft stalled and crashed…