The Miracle Trek — Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa
One of the greatest feats of human survival is the epic story of the plane carrying a Uruguayan rugby team and their supporters that crashed in the high Andes mountains on the border of Argentina and Chile in 1972. Of the 45 people on the aircraft, 18 died in the initial impact or within the first week. Finding themselves in the extreme cold of 3,664 metres (12,020 ft), the survivors took refuge in the broken fuselage. Two weeks later an avalanche engulfed their fuselage shelter and killed eight more, leaving the rest trapped in the dark for three days until they dug themselves out. In the weeks that followed, three more died of their injuries and exposure to the elements. Early on in this nightmarish ordeal, the survivors, listening to a small transistor radio, learned that the search and rescue mission for them had been called off. They were left for dead. No plants or animals live at that altitude, nor was there any running water. Just ice, snow, and jagged rock peaks for as far as ...