Channel 5
Andes Plane Crash: Terror at 30,000 Feet
Best on the Box choice for January 9th…
A three-part documentary about the Andes Plane Crash of 1972, produced by ITN, charts the ultimate story of human survival against all the odds, as told by those who lived to tell the tale. When a Uruguayan rugby team’s plane crashed in the Andes Mountains in October 1972, they were stranded in one of the world’s most unforgiving environments with little hope of rescue. Of the 45 people who boarded the plane, only 16 made it out alive.
In tonight’s first episode: In October 1972 a rugby team boarded a plane in Montevideo, Uruguay heading for a fun weekend in Chile. As they flew across the Andes, disaster struck. Their plane crashed in one of the most unforgiving environments in the world, leaving the survivors facing an extraordinary battle to live.
For those who miraculously survived the plane crash, they found themselves stranded in the torturous winter landscape of the Andes Mountains. It was barren, bitter and brutal. They endured freezing temperatures with no winter clothes and very little food. Overnight the temperature dropped well below zero.
There was a desperate fight to save those injured in the crash. The group needed to use incredible teamwork and inventiveness to find ways to endure the conditions, turning the plane wreckage into their shelter that would house them for 72 days, and coming up with ways to melt the snow into drinking water. But once their limited food supplies ran out, it looked like they would starve. With no way to communicate with the outside world they had no idea if help was coming.
Told through the vivid and powerful testimony of survivors – Nando Parrado, Roy Harley, Coche Inciarte, Eduardo Strauch, Fito Strauch – this documentary series tells the definitive story of their heroism, during what became known as the “Miracle of the Andes.”
Episode One: Andes Plane Crash: Terror at 30,000 Feet. Tonight (Tuesday 9th January), 10pm, Channel 5
