Andes, South America.
The site of one of the most horrific survival stories in history also happens to be one of the world’s most popular adventure destinations. Cannibalism, the destruction of entire civilizations, active volcanoes, avalanches, mudslides, murder, and even paranormal activity surround the longest and tallest mountain range in all of the Americas.
Mount Everest may be the highest mountain in terms of altitude and sea-level, but Mount Chimborazo is the closest to the moon.
Located in Venezuela, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina, the Andes, known as the backbone of South America, is home to famous archeological sites such as the ancient Incan ruins of Machu Picchu; Aconcagua, the tallest mountain in both Western and Southern Hemispheres; Ojos del Salado, the highest active volcano in the world; Salar de Uyuni (or Salar de Tunupa) the world’s largest salt flat, and Lake Titicaca, the highest commercially navigable body of water.
Calling the Andes ‘hostile territory’ would be a grievous understatement. In 2005, a blizzard struck during a military training mission, which forced the troops to take shelter. Of the 433 soldiers, approximately 50 of them were lost in the storm. The most horrific experience in recent history took place on October 13 in 1972 when a Uruguayan airplane carrying 45 passengers crashed into the Andes in Argentina. Search parties scoured the treacherous landscape for 10 days, but there were no results. The passengers—a Uruguayan rugby team, their relatives and supporters, were presumed dead. However, 70 days later, two bearded, starving boys appeared from the -10F weather and declared themselves passengers of the downed plane. After describing where the plane had crashed, rescuers returned and found 14 others who had survived by eating the bodies of their friends, family, and teammates who had died in the crash and the following avalanche that struck the wreckage 16 days later, killing eight more.
Medical student, Roberto Canessa recounts his experience:
The cold was unimaginable. Instead of the 75 degrees it had been inside the cabin, it was now 10 degrees below zero. We opened luggage in search of jackets and sweaters, and T-shirts for bandages. Gustavo and I treated wounds, felt pulses, consoled.
God, I’m exhausted. Why is it so hard to breathe? The air was so thin I could barely function. For the first time I asked myself: ‘Where the hell are we? How could a plane, filled with fuel, hit a mountain ridge and not explode?’
Darkness fell. Within minutes it was pitch black. We used a lighter to see, all the while fearing we might ignite the jet fuel that permeated the air.
My hands were covered in the blood of the dying and the dead.
Shattered, I curled up in a corner and tried to rest. Thinking how unlucky I was to be caught up in this unimaginable horror, I closed my eyes and, for the first time since the accident, checked all my senses.
But as I moved my tired muscles and felt my body respond to each of my brain’s commands, I changed my mind. I was, by some miracle, completely unhurt. No one on earth was luckier than me. And for that, I am still daily grateful.
—Dr. Roberto Canessa, Pablo Vierci (I Had to Survive: How a Plane Crash in the Andes Inspired My Calling to Save Lives)
Avalanches, like the one Canessa experienced are common in the Andes. The mountain range is one of the most active avalanche zones in the world. In January 1962, an avalanche on the slopes of the extinct volcano, Mount Huascrarán, 22,000 feet above sea level, killed 4,000 people in Peru. Nine towns and seven villages were completely obliterated, the remains buried under 40 feet of snow. But the damage didn’t stop there. The avalanche, traveling 9.5 miles in only 7 minutes stopped at the Santa River where it blocked the river flow and caused massive flooding.
The worst natural disaster in the history of Peru occurred on May 31st, known as the Great Peruvian Earthquake triggered an avalanche on Mt. Huascarán with an estimated speed of 200 miles per hour. Between the earthquake and subsequent avalanche, over 20,000 lives were lost.
More avalanches occur in the Andes than anywhere else in the world, and while the majority of avalanches go undocumented, thousands of locals and tourists are killed every year in avalanches and avalanche-related disasters.
Author Bruce Tremper explains in his book, Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain, several things you can do to increase your chances of survival during an avalanche.
• Yell to let your partner know you’re caught.
• If you can’t get off the slab, get rid of your equipment.
• Use breathing equipment such as an Avalung mouthpiece or avalanche balloon.
• Leave your pack on to provide lifesaving padding and supplies.
• Swimming or rolling like a log.
• Keep your hand near your mouth to scoop out air space, to help rescuers find you, and finally, relax. When an avalanche comes to a stop, it freezes like concrete, so buried victims can’t move. There’s nothing more you can do so try to relax.
As I always say, preventative measures are the best measures, so avoid the situation in the first place by staying in designated areas.
I once knew a brother and sister who were the only survivors of a horrific plane crash that left both their parents, and the pilot, dead. They were just children, about 14 and 12 (ish) when their plane went down in hostile territory. They came from a wealthy family and often took a small private plane to Panama. When their plane went down, everyone but the children were killed. The oldest sibling, the girl, was paralyzed from the waist down. Her brother had a severe head injury and could hardly function.
They survived together, helping each other, for three days in the jungle before the rescue team found them.
The little girl is now a young woman, wheelchair-bound, and married to a handsome young man. She looks after her brother who can be seen sometimes wandering through town, picking up items in stores and placing them back down, promising to buy them later. He's "off" a little bit, but I have a difficult time explaining how. It was his head injury. If you knew him, or met him, you'd see it too.
Both are some of the sweetest people I've ever met. And I don't get a chance to meet sweet people often. They're heroic. She made a pledge to always look after her brother. I guess the three of them live together now.
I could never imagine such a tragedy happening to me. I like to try to put myself in other peoples' shoes, but this was so out of my spectrum, much like my previous article on N. Korea.
I'm going through a really tough time in my life right now. I'm thinking of killing myself. When I think of how some people fight so hard for survival, while I'm ready to give up, I wonder, simply, how.