<P> The survivors had little food and no source of heat in the harsh conditions at over 3,600 metres (11,800 ft) altitude . Faced with starvation and radio news reports that the search for them had been abandoned, the survivors fed on the bodies of dead passengers that had been preserved in the snow . Rescuers did not learn of the survivors until 72 days after the crash, when passengers Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa, after a 10 - day trek across the Andes, found Chilean arriero Sergio Catalán, who gave them food and then alerted the authorities to the existence of the other survivors . </P> <P> On 13 October 1972, a chartered Uruguayan Air Force twin turboprop Fairchild FH - 227 D was flying over the Andes carrying the Old Christians Club rugby union team from Montevideo, Uruguay, to play a match in Santiago, Chile . The trip had begun the day before when the Fairchild departed from Carrasco International Airport, but inclement mountain weather forced an overnight stop in Mendoza, Argentina . At the Fairchild's ceiling of 9,000 metres (30,000 ft), the aircraft could not fly directly from Mendoza, over the Andes, to Santiago, in large part because of the weather . Instead, the pilots had to fly south from Mendoza parallel to the Andes, then turn west towards the mountains, fly through a low pass (Planchon), cross the mountains, and emerge on the Chilean side of the Andes south of Curicó before finally turning north and initiating descent into Santiago . </P> <P> Dipping into the cloud cover while still over the mountains, the Fairchild soon crashed on an unnamed peak (later called Cerro Seler, also known as Glaciar de las Lágrimas or Glacier of Tears), between Cerro Sosneado and Volcán Tinguiririca, straddling the remote mountainous border between Chile and Argentina . The aircraft clipped the peak at 4,200 metres (13,800 ft), severing the right wing, which was thrown back with such force that it cut off the vertical stabilizer, leaving a gaping hole in the rear of the fuselage . The aircraft then clipped a second peak which severed the left wing and left the aircraft as just a fuselage flying through the air . One of the propellers sliced through the fuselage as the wing it was attached to was severed . The fuselage hit the ground and slid down a steep mountain slope before finally coming to rest in a snow bank . The location of the crash site is 34 ° 45 ′ 54" S 70 ° 17 ′ 11" W ﻿ / ﻿ 34.76500 ° S 70.28639 ° W ﻿ / - 34.76500; - 70.28639, in the Argentine municipality of Malargüe (Malargüe Department, Mendoza Province). </P> <P> Of the 45 people on the aircraft, 12 died in the crash or shortly thereafter; another five died by the next morning; and one more succumbed to injuries on the eighth day . The remaining 27 faced severe difficulties surviving in the freezing mountains at such a high altitude . Many had suffered injuries from the crash, including broken legs from the aircraft's seats piling together . The survivors lacked equipment such as cold - weather clothing and crampons (footwear) suitable for the area, mountaineering goggles to prevent snow blindness (although one of the eventual survivors, 24 - year - old Adolfo "Fito" Strauch, devised a couple of sunglasses by using the sun visors in the pilot's cabin, which helped protect the survivors' eyes from the sun), and medical supplies, and the death of Dr. Francisco Nicola left a first and a second year medical student who had survived the crash in charge to improvise splints and braces with salvaged parts of what remained of the aircraft . </P>

Where did the rugby team crash in the andes