An amateur rugby team from Uruguay chartered the Fairchild along with 25; family members and friends headed for Santiago, Chile on October 12, 1972. At approximately, 3:31 p.m., the plane crashed into the Andes Mountains. Some were killed on impact others were forced to fight the bitter cold and seek shelter in the fuselage of the plane. After the initial crash there were only 32 survivors. The number of survivors decreased rapidly. After the plane crashed the people of Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile formed a search. For eight days the search continued until the search parties figured that the pilots had miscalculated their position.

The mountains had a substantial amount of snow on them so it would be hard to see the plane the roof was as white as the snow on the mountains. There was a faded hope with the search party that any of the 45 passengers and crew members could have even survived the initial crash, so the search was called off. The survivors went threw many untold horrors. Unfortunately they had to ration the little food that they had and when some of the survivors thought they were being rescued ate all the food, and drank all the wine. The only way for them to survive would be to eat the passengers who had already passed away.

People shouldn't look at this as an act of cannibalism, but a means to survive. They did what they had to do in the situation that had been forced upon them. Many of the survivors were merely teenagers or young adults in their mid-20's. After the plane crashed there had been a few avalanches. One went threw the opening in the fuselage and buried most of the survivors. Though some began to dig their way out the number of survivors went down again. Eight people died the night of the avalanche leaving only 19 survivors. Three others died later from sickness and other complications. Out of 45 passengers 16 survived.

During this time many attempts to get off the mountain were made. The group would set out in small groups searching for the tail of the plane to get the batteries out for the radio. Nando Parado, Roberto Canessa, and Antonio Vizintin set out to get off the mountain by walking to the nearest town. Eventually Nando and Roberto would send Antonio "tintin" back to the plane so they could have more food. Ten weeks after the plane crashed a Chilean peasant who was out tending his cattle saw the two men. The men made gestures and fell to their knees, but the peasant walked away afraid they may be terrorist or tourist. The men were still there when he returned the next day so the man threw across the bank of a river a paper and pen wrapped up in a handkerchief. One of the men picked up the paper and pen and wrote the following...
"I come from a plane that fell in the mountains. I am Uruguayan...". After being trapped in the mountains for 71 days all sixteen survivors were rescued.