Plane Crash in the Andes | The Crash | 1

Against The Odds

Wondery

Cassie De Pecol, History, Society & Culture, Dolby, Mike Corey, Dolby Atmos, Atmos

4.7 • 7.2K Ratings

🗓️ 21 September 2021

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In October 1972, an Uruguayan rugby team traveling to their next match in Santiago, Chile, crashes into the Andes Mountains after their plane strikes a glacier. Stranded on the snow-covered side of a mountain, they will have to do the unthinkable to survive.

Initially, 29 passengers survive the collision but they must endure freezing temperatures with no winter clothes and only a few light snacks for food. The landscape is barren, and as night falls, the temperature drops below zero. The remaining survivors have no idea if help is coming. They will have to battle starvation, hypothermia, blizzards, and avalanches for more than two months before finally finding the strength to try and save themselves.

It's the incredible true story of survival in the elements and two young men's attempt to hike to civilization and get them all out.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, Prime members, you can listen to against the odds at free on Amazon music. Download the app today.
0:17.6	It's mid-afternoon on October 13th, 1972.
0:21.7	Nando Parado looks at the window of a small turboprop plane as it flies through the towering snow-cover peaks of the Andy's mountains.
0:31.7	It's spring in the southern hemisphere, but the sky is gray and dark clouds float past Nando's window.
0:39.7	Nando plays rugby for the old Christians, one of the best amateur teams in Uruguay.
0:45.7	The team has chartered this plane to take the players and their supporters to a game in Santiago Chile.
0:52.7	Nando is 22 years old and a serious athlete, but they're just playing an exhibition game in Chile, so this trip is more like a vacation.
1:02.7	The flight already feels like a party. His teammates, mostly students and their late teens in early 20s, are chatting and laughing, moving up and down the aisle of the plane.
1:13.7	Nando feels a tap on his shoulder. It's Pansito Abal, who's sitting next to him.
1:19.7	Switch seats with me Nando. I want to see the mountains. Nando takes one last look at the window before he gets up. He's in awe of the Andes.
1:29.7	Uruguay is coastal and low-lying, and Nando's never seen mountains like these before.
1:36.7	They're so tall the plane has to fly between the peaks, not above them. To him, they look like the jagged spine of a prehistoric beast.
1:47.7	Nando stands to switch seats and hears someone shout.
1:50.7	Think fast Nando. A rugby ball flies at his head. Nando laughs as he catches it and toss it forward.
1:59.7	Soon the ball is flying around the cabin. The steward stands up to quiet them.
2:04.7	Put the ball away. Settle down please. Nando leans across the aisle and winks at his mother, Eugenia, and younger sister Susie, who have come along to watch the match.
2:16.7	But then, without warning, he feels his stomach bottom out. The plane drops suddenly, then rises, then drops again.
2:26.7	His teammates whoop and cheer is if they're riding a roller coaster. The steward comes over the intercom.
2:34.7	We've had a pocket of bumpy air, but we should be through it shortly. Stay in your seats please.
2:39.7	Finally, the plane levels out. Nando reassures his mother with a big thumbs up. Then, he feels Pinchito tugging at his arm.
2:49.7	Nando, look. Should we be flying this close to the mountains? Nando bends forward and pears out the small window.
2:57.7	The plane's wing is only feet away from a massive wall of stone and ice.
	...

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