Roberto Canessa, now approaching seventy and finding peace in a hibiscus garden he misses in the mountains, is one of the Andes survivors who calmly describes how his fallen friends seemed to have received a life transplant.
On October 13, 1972, a plane carrying a Uruguayan rugby team crashed in the Andes while en route to Chile. The tragedy is remembered for the brutal conditions faced by the 45 passengers, including the astonishing fact that 16 of them were found alive 72 days later, after members of the group chose to sustain themselves by consuming the deceased to endure the ordeal.
“We did nothing to repent of carrying our friends in body and spirit, which would have been an honor for me if I had died and they had used me to live,” Canessa states in a video interview with foreign media reporters in Argentina, including EFE.
The surgeon, who specialized in pediatric care, says he feels privileged to be alive. He notes that he and his companions were somewhat advanced for their time, since there were no heart, kidney, or liver transplants, and feeding on the remains of other travelers helped them survive.
“I feel as if life itself was transplanted into us,” he remarks with calm resolve.
human experiment
In the book Snow Country (Penguin, 2007), which inspired director Juan Antonio Bayona for a later film, Canessa reflects on the experience, likening it to a wild and flawed scientist using humans rather than lab animals in an experiment.
Half a century later, he observes that human experimentation has grown stronger, that emotions are healing, and that sorrows hold less sway, which in his view helps him protect himself. “Look, this is what I did on the mountain. I don’t know if it was right or wrong. These are the facts. You don’t need to inject subjectivity; just tell how things turned out,” he says.
In this ongoing “human experiment” that he never tires of sharing in interviews and motivational talks, the solidarity of the so-called snow society remains a beacon amid pain, exhaustion, and despair.
“I think it was a good mix, a strong testament to what it was like to be cast into terrible times, to stay resilient, to keep trying, and not give up without trying,” he explains.
Is it chosen?
Canessa and Fernando Parrado set out as two explorers, marching for days in search of help until they encounter a Chilean muleteer, Sergio Catalán, who alerts the world to the Uruguayans injured high in the mountains and in danger of not surviving.
When asked who chose them, the doctor smiles and notes that their selection was influenced by physical condition and resilience. Parrado was deemed a strong candidate for steadiness and joined after listening to Arturo Nogueira’s longing for healthy legs to walk rather than feel trapped. This moment offered a chance to live rather than to perish in the wreckage.
It gave Parrado a new sense of purpose—a possibility to walk toward safety rather than to fade away in the debris they had already endured.
“Don’t let the plane crash”
“Sometimes we chase material things that don’t bring happiness,” reflects the doctor, whose daily life is marked by a deep solidarity. He sums up the experience with the refrain: don’t let a plane crash teach you your true worth.
Among the many striking memories from those 72 days, the absence of life on the snow, ice, and flies stands out. Each survivor carries this part of the record differently, yet together they commemorate a moment of extraordinary resilience. Returning to memory every December since the rescue, the survivors honor the date with a shared sense of being transplanted by their friends.