A notorious real-life 1972 plane crash in the Andes is the inspiration behind the new Netflix adventure drama "Society of the Snow."
The disaster happened on Oct. 13, 1972, when Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, which was carrying an Uruguayan rugby team from Montevideo, Uruguay, to Santiago, Chile, crashed into the Andes mountains, tearing off the plane's wings and tail.
Twenty-nine of the plane's 45 passengers died, but not right away: 33 survived the initial crash. Of that set, only 16 endured the area's harrowing freezing temperatures, injuries and an avalanche.
The survivors were eventually forced to eat the flesh of the dead among them to stay alive over the 72 agonizing days before a rescue team reached them them.
What have the survivors said about the crash?
Each of the 16 survivors contributed first-person accounts to Pablo Vierci's book "Society of the Snow," which inspired the movie.
One of the passengers, Dr. Roberto Canessa, also shared his memories of the crash with NBC News reporter Tom Llamas in November 2023.
"I thought I was going to die," recalled Canessa, who was just 19 at the time of the crash.
Canessa said watching "Society of the Snow" was difficult because, unlike past retellings of the story, Netflix got the event's grim details correct — even traveling to the actual site of the crash to film.
The movie's actors and crew members set up a camp in the mountains, enduring the same frigid temperatures that Canessa and his fellow survivors did.
"I was immersed in that place again. I was back to the fuselage," Canessa said of viewing the film.
During the interview, Canessa recalled the moment he and the other survivors realized their survival depended on eating their dead teammates and other others who had perished in the crash.
"I thought if I would die, I would proud that my body would be used for someone else," he recalled thinking at the time.
Canessa and teammate Nando Parrado eventually hiked out of the mountain range to find help.
The survivors were finally rescued on Dec. 22, 1972.
After the crash, Canessa, then a medical student, became a renowned pediatric cardiologist.
He recognizes that while what happened to the passengers and crew members of Flight 571 was a tragedy, it also taught him "about how to avert difficulties in life and to have faith in yourself."
Where are the 1972 Andes plane crash survivors now?
Of the 16 survivors, 14 are still alive. José Luis “Coche” Inciarte died in 2023 of cancer, per the AFP, as did Javier Methol in 2015.
Sergio Catalan, the herdsman who encountered Fernando Parrado and Roberto Canessa after their 10-day trek through the Andes from the crash site, died in 2020 at the age of 91.
While some had private-facing lives, many of the survivors went on to write about their experiences and become motivational speakers.
Canessa, 19 at the time of the crash and now 70, wrote, "I Had to Survive." Parrado became a motivational speaker and wrote the book "Miracle of the Andes." Carlitos Páez wrote "After the Tenth Day." Inciarte wrote the memoir “Memories of the Andes.”
Vierci's book provides updates on all the survivors, including Eduardo Stauch, who became an architect and owner of "one of the most reputable architecture firms in Uruguay," per Vierci's book, and Pancho Delgado, who opened a law firm.
Gustavo Zerbino became the director and CEO of the Uruguayan Rugby Federation, per the book, and worked in pharmaceuticals. Tintín Vizintín also remained involved in rugby, and became the president of the Uruguayan Rugby Union, per Vierci's book.
The survivors meet annually
According to the book "Society of the Snow," upon which the movie was based, the survivors gather each year on Dec. 22, the first day of the rescue, to "hold a ritual commemoration."
"All of them reunite with all their families. In that way they have seen all the children of their friends as they were born, together with their own ... now most of their children are between 18 and 26 years old, exactly the age they were on the mountain. They remind them of themselves," the book reads.
Canessa, according to the book, built a salon in his house with the hope that it could be a "meeting place for the group."
Many of them gathered to watch an early screening Netflix arranged of “Society of the Snow," according to Llamas. When the movie ended, the men broke into thunderous applause. Then, they embraced each other and cried.