On October 13, 1972, a Uruguayan Air Force plane carrying members of the ''Old Christians'' rugby team -- and many of their friends and family members -- crashed into the Andes Mountains. As he tended to his wounded teammates amid the devastating carnage of the wreck, rugby player Roberto Canessa, a second-year medical student at the time, realized that no one on earth was luckier: he was alive -- and for that, he should be eternally grateful. As the starving group struggled beyond the limits of what seemed possible, Canessa played a key role in safeguarding his fellow survivors, eventually trekking with a companion across the hostile mountain range for help.

Product Description: In the first hours there was nothing, no fear or sadness, just a black and perfect silence.Nando Parrado was unconscious for three days before he woke to discover that the plane carrying his rugby team, as well as their family members and supporters, to an exhibition game in Chile had crashed somewhere deep in the Andes...read more

Records the struggles and sufferings of a team of young Uruguayan rugby players as they battled for survival during the ten weeks following an airplane crash in the Andes, in a harrowing, true-life adventure. Reprint. 25,000 first printing.

A detailed account of the cruel hardships and daily struggles endured by the Uruguayans whose airplane crashed in the Andes in October, 1972