page_title: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571
section_title: Finding help
hierarchical_section_title: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 / Rescue trek / Finding help
caption_attribution_description: Español: Fernando Parrado y Roberto Canessa junto al arriero Sergio Catalán, quien les encontrara perdidos en las montañas de los Andes, después de diez terribles días de caminata en medio de la cordillera (tragedia y milagro de los Andes).
context_page_description: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, later known as Andes flight disaster and The Miracle of the Andes, was a chartered flight that originated in Montevideo, Uruguay, bound for Santiago, Chile. On October 13, 1972, while crossing the Andes, the inexperienced co-pilot of the Fairchild FH-227D who was in command mistakenly believed they had reached Curicó, Chile, despite instrument readings that indicated otherwise. The aircraft began descending too early to reach Pudahuel Airport, and struck a mountain, initially shearing off both wings and the tail section. The remaining portion of the fuselage slid down the mountain about 725 metres before striking ice and snow on a glacier. The flight was carrying 45 passengers and crew, including 19 members of the Old Christians Club rugby union team, along with their families, supporters, and friends.
  The wreck was located at an elevation of 3,570 metres in the remote Andes Mountains in far western Argentina, near the border with Chile. Three crew members and eight passengers died immediately, and several others died soon afterward due to the frigid temperatures and their serious injuries.
context_section_description: Parrado and Canessa hiked for several more days. First, they were able to reach the narrow valley that Parrado had seen on the top of the mountain, where they found the source of Río San José, leading to Río Portillo which meets Río Azufre at Maitenes. They followed the river and reached the snowline.
  Gradually, there appeared more and more signs of human presence; first some evidence of camping, and finally on the ninth day, some cows. When they rested that evening they were very tired, and Canessa seemed unable to proceed further.
  As the men gathered wood to build a fire, one of them saw three men on horseback at the other side of the river. Parrado called to them, but the noise of the river made it impossible to communicate. One of the men across the river saw Parrado and Canessa and called back, "Tomorrow!" The next day, the man returned. He scribbled a note, attached it and a pencil to a rock with some string, and threw the message across the river. Parrado replied:
  Spanish: Vengo de un avión que cayó en las montañas. Soy uruguayo. Hace 10 días que estamos caminando. Tengo un amigo herido arriba. En el avión quedan 14 personas heridas. Tenemos que salir rápido de aquí y no sabemos cómo. No tenemos comida. Estamos débiles. ¿Cuándo nos van a buscar arriba? Por favor, no podemos ni caminar. ¿Dónde estamos?
  English: I come from a plane that fell in the mountains. I am Uruguayan. We have been walking for ten days. I have a wounded friend up there. In the plane there are still fourteen injured people. We have to get out from here quickly and we don't know how. We don't have any food. We are weak. When are you going to come to fetch us? Please, we cannot even walk. Where are we?
  Sergio Catalán, a Chilean arriero (muleteer), read the note and gave them a sign that he understood. Catalán talked with the other two men, and one of them remembered that several weeks before Carlos Paez's father had asked them if they had heard about the Andes plane crash. The arrieros could not imagine that anyone could still be alive. Catalán threw bread to the men across the river. He then rode on horseback westward for ten hours to bring help.
  During the trip he saw another arriero on the south side of Río Azufre, and asked him to reach the men and to bring them to Los Maitenes. Then, he followed the river to its junction with Río Tinguiririca, where after crossing a bridge he was able to reach the narrow route that linked the village of Puente Negro to the holiday resort of Termas del Flaco. Here, he was able to stop a truck and reach the police station at Puente Negro.
  They relayed news of the survivors to the Army command in San Fernando, Chile, who contacted the Army in Santiago. Meanwhile, Parrado and Canessa were brought on horseback to  Los Maitenes de Curicó, where they were fed and allowed to rest. They had hiked about 38 km (24 mi) over 10 days. Since the plane crash, Canessa had lost almost half of his body weight, about 44 kilograms (97 lb).
caption: Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa (sitting) with Chilean arriero Sergio Catalán
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