Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, Part 2

The Reference Desk

This week, we continue the harrowing experiences of the survivors from the Uruguayan Old Christians Rugby Team whose plane crashed in the Andes mountains. The survivors begin attempting expeditions to seek help, though efforts were put on hold after another tragedy: the plane was hit with an avalanche. Eventually, a few of the strongest were able to hike out of the Andes in a rescue expedition. Were they successful?

All books shared in this episode can be purchased at our Bookshop!

Staff picks:

Salt Houses by Hala Alyan

Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive by Stephanie Land

Recommended reading

Non-Fiction

• Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home by Nando Parrado and Vince Rause
• Out of the Silence: After the Crash by Eduardo Strauch and Mireya Soriano
• I Had to Survive: How a Plane Crash in the Andes Inspired My Calling to Save Lives by Roberto Canessa and Pablo Vierci
• Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors by Piers Paul Read

Fiction

• I Am Still Alive by Kate Alice Marshall
• Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

Media

• Society of Snow (2023)
• Yellowjackets (Showtime)

Sources:

• Miracle of the Andes: How Survivors of the Flight Disaster Struggled to Stay Alive
• After the Plane Crash—and the Cannibalism—a Life of Hope
• Story Of The 1972 Andes Plane Crash In 'Out Of The Silence'
• 70 Days Battling Starvation and Freezing in the Andes: A Chronicle of Man's Unwillingness to Die
• After the Andes
• Haunted by cannibalism: ‘I will never forget that first incision’
• The Long Way Home
• THE STORY OF THE ANDES SURVIVORS
• Survival: I Will Not Die on This Mountain
• Alive Again: New Findings in the 1972 Andes Plane Crash
• Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home by Nando Parrado and Vince Rause
• I Had to Survive: How a Plane Crash in the Andes Inspired My Calling to Save Lives by Roberto Canessa and Pablo Vierci
• Modern Mummies: The Preservation of the Human Body in the Twentieth Century by Christine Quigley

Support the show