Society of the Snow

On October 13th 1972, a Uruguayan rugby team known  as the Old Christians Club takes a plane to fly to   Chile for a special match. Most of them never  left the country so this is very exciting, and   some family members come along for support. When  they start approaching the Andes mountains that   separate Chile and Argentina, the plane shakes  a couple of times. A passenger explains that the   warm winds from Argentina collide with the cold  mountain air, which creates a suction effect   that causes slight turbulence. However as the  plane keeps going, the turbulence gets worse and   suddenly the plane sinks a few miles. The pilots  force the plane to keep going through the stormy   winds while everyone holds tight and watches their  things fall in the corridor. For a second they see   the sun only for the plane to go down again and  hit the mountain as it breaks in half. One of the   players is blown away with the tail of the plane  while the front keeps going until it crashes into   the snow, sending all the seats clashing against  each other and killing multiple people in various   gruesome ways. One by one, the survivors try  to let go of the shock and leave their seats to   help the passengers who got trapped. There’s blood  everywhere and two med students try to guide those   with broken limbs to help them calm down. A few  guys check on the pilot, but he dies after just   a couple of words and the radio isn’t working.  Others try to scream for help to no avail. The   temperature starts dropping fast, especially when  night falls, so the survivors huddle together   inside the plane, using bodies and bags to try to  cover any holes. Many of them can’t stop panicking   or crying, so they try their best to comfort each  other. In the morning, they discover a few more   people have died frozen. The storm has passed  and the sun is strong, so they look around and   see nothing but snow and mountains for miles. The  group decides they must start working to survive.   They take out the seats and debris from the plane  so there’s room for everyone to sleep at night,   then they move the wounded survivors to the  spot where they can receive the most sunlight,   prioritizing their care. Any object they find  that may be useful is put away in the suitcases   for protection, and all bags and suitcases are  searched thoroughly for food. The bodies are moved   away from the plane and kept together nearby,  covering them in snow to keep them from rotting   in hopes they can take them with them when help  comes. On the first day they already have eleven   dead people, plus the one guy that flew away.  Once they’re organized, they have a little snack,   already being careful to ration their food to make  it last. Suddenly they hear a plane fly by so they   try yelling and waving their arms, but they aren’t  found. On their second night, they’re ready to   sleep inside the plane, using the clothes from  the bags as blankets and covering the hole with   the suitcases. On day three, Nando finally wakes  up. He’s been unconscious since they crashed,   so they have to explain what happened. His body is  in a terrible condition, but he still drags it on   the ground to be with his sister, who isn’t doing  very well either. When Nando asks about their mom,   they have to inform him she died, which makes  him think about his father alone back in Uruguay.   Afterward, they use some metal to start melting  snow for water. They also make a huge X on the   ground with suitcases, hoping they’ll be seen.  When another plane flies by, they try to make the   sun reflect on mirrors and keep on yelling.  Someone notices the plane’s wings rocked,   so it may be a sign they were seen. The next  day, they hear the plane again but it’s far away,   meaning they’re searching in a different  area and didn’t see them. The group starts   to discuss survival options and remembers there  were some batteries in the tail, so they should   go out to find it. After building some goggles  with mirrors and the leather from the seats,   four survivors start going up the mountain to find  the tail. As soon as they go up a few miles, they   discover the crash site can’t be seen from afar  because of all the snow. This means the chances   of a rescue plane finding them are almost zero.  At that moment they notice some snow coming down,   so the four guys decide to return to the crash  sight for now. Days start to pass and after a   week they run out of food. There are no animals  or plants in the area, and they try some moss   from a rock but it tastes absolutely disgusting.  Nando mentions that he’ll eat bodies if he must,   and soon an argument ensues over whether they  should take meat from the dead passengers.   Some survivors mention their pee is black and  others mention a fear of going to jail for it,   but they don’t reach an agreement. As time  continues to pass, they get so desperate for   food that they start eating anything they can  find like shoelaces and cigarettes. This only   causes their pee to get darker. On the eighth  day, Nando’s sister passes away, and Coco decides   to write a letter to his parents, describing  the tragedy but also the beauty of the place.   A few more storms hit them the following days and  they manage to survive by hiding inside the plane.   However by day twenty-one, half of the group gets  tired of the situation and makes an announcement:   they give their permission for the others to eat  their bodies if they die. Then they go outside   and with a piece of glass, they take meat from  the bodies so they can feed themselves again.   Seeing this, a few people change their mind  and join the group outside to finally eat too,   leaving only five people who refuse to become  cannibals. The next day they start a proper system   to hide most of the bodies while they do the job,  that way it’s less gruesome and those who aren’t   chopping don’t have to see it. They also start  leaving some meat pieces under the sun to warm   them up. Sometime later, they find a new suitcase  buried in the snow and are surprised to find a   radio inside. After building a rough antenna, they  manage to turn it on, only to learn from the news   that after 66 search missions, the government has  decided not to look for them anymore. The entire   group has a breakdown as they lose all hope, and  four people give in and eat human meat. Afterward,   three guys decide to go out and look for the plane  tail properly this time. The first thing they find   is lots of debris and five bodies, including the  guy that had been sucked out of the plane during   the fall. They keep moving as fast as they can,  which is hard because there’s a lot of slipping   down while climbing and freezing winds making it  hard to breathe. At night, they huddle together   against the side of the mountain and try to  sleep with a storm raging around them. They   wake up covered in snow but alive, however one  of them is blind and the other two are very weak,   so they go back by sliding down on a piece  of debris. After such a traumatic experience,   the last guy agrees to eat human meat too and goes  to sleep in tears. On day seventeen, the group has   been dealing with a storm for five days. They stay  inside the plane and try to tell stories to keep   the mood up, but suddenly an avalanche comes down,  burying the plane and filling it with snow. As the   few people that managed to stay on top panic, one  of them goes outside, only to notice the storm has   gotten worse. Then they desperately start digging  in the snow to bring out all the passengers that   got buried, and they even pee on the snow to  make it melt faster. After lots of work, effort,   and screaming, they manage to get everyone out  except for a woman, who was so deep down that she   died quickly. At that moment they hear a weird  noise and discover another avalanche coming,   which buries them again and kills a few  more men, including the team captain.   The survivors immediately create a few holes so  they can breathe, but as they keep on waiting,   they can only pray while they hear the noises made  by falling snow. When they recover some energy,   they move eight bodies against a corner. On day  eighteen, they’ve been buried for two days and the   hunger is getting painful. They have no choice  but to start getting meat from the bodies, but   this time is much harder because they can’t hide  most of the bodies in snow to avoid seeing their   faces. It means they know exactly who they are  eating. This makes Numa so angry that he starts   digging and breaking the windows, which ends up  with the glass hurting his leg. Such thing doesn’t   stop him though, and he just keeps on digging. On  day twenty, he finally manages to open a hole in   the snow big enough for the remaining survivors to  come out. After having a moment to relax and enjoy   the fact they’re alive, the group begins working  on digging out the plane. Numa discovers he has   a cut on his foot that he didn’t feel because of  the cold, but he ignores it and keeps on helping.   Eventually the sunny days help them get the plane  out and they even start considering sending a few   men out on a search again, but they still have no  way to survive the freezing nights out there. In   the end they agree to wait a few more days since  summer is around the corner. On day thirty-four,   the thaw finally begins. The two injured men from  the beginning are very sick, and the med students   know there isn’t anything else they can do. In  just a few hours, they discover Coco has his lungs   filled with fluid, but no amount of CPR can help  him breathe and he dies soon. When they take out   the body, they find his letter and keep it safe.  On day thirty-six, the weather has improved enough   for Roberto, Nando, Tintin, and Numa to leave on  a new search wearing extra layers of clothing to   survive the nights. Soon Numa starts feeling dizzy  and he falls, so they check his foot and discover   his wound is infected. The group thinks they  should take him back, but Numa says he’s strong   enough to return alone and asks them to keep  going. As soon as Numa returns to the crash site,   he passes out. A few hours later, he wakes up to  discover the other sick passenger is hallucinating   before dying. The next morning, the group starts  working on removing the ice from the cockpit   too in case they may need it. Numa wants to help  but can’t because he’s too weak, which makes him   feel useless and frustrated. Soon the trio comes  back with big news: they’ve found the tail of the   plane. By doing a couple of short trips with the  others, they bring lots of clean coats, bottles   of rum, cigarettes, and even chocolate. They also  find the plane’s batteries, so they try to connect   them to the cockpit to make the radio work. After  lots of work, they manage to get some static   going, but they don’t get anyone to answer them.  Days start passing again, and the group hesitates   to go out because spending one night out there  almost killed them even with the extra coats.   Numa’s infection is getting worse and spreading  to the rest of his body. The food they found in   the tail is still not enough, so they have to  start stripping the bones of meat. By now it’s   become routine and it doesn’t bother them anymore.  Knowing he doesn’t have much time left, Numa stops   eating so the others can have more. They try to  fix the radio again but the wires cause a small   short-circuit and they give up. In their fury,  they write a message on the plane counting the   survivors. During another trip to the tail, the  group is surprised to find some waterproof fabric   that was covering the pipes. They immediately  bring it back and start putting together a   sleeping bag that will allow them to survive the  nights outside. The smaller radio is still working   and they hear on the news that even though  fifty-eight days have passed since the crash,   the Air Force is planning to send another aircraft  to search for them. An argument ensues over how to   proceed: some of them think they should wait  for the aircraft, while others point out that   they never see them down here so they should go  looking for help. Frustrated, Roberto tears off   the sleeping bag. Afterward, the group decides  to distract themselves by making bird noises as   they see them fly by, and they find a camera that  they use to take a bunch of pictures. That night,   Numa gives them permission to eat his body, and in  the morning they find him dead. There’s a note in   his hands that says “there’s no greater love than  to give one’s life for friends”. Inspired by these   words, Roberto, Nando, and Tintin decide to go out  again. After getting the new sleeping bag and lots   of meat, they start climbing west with the goal of  crossing the mountain to reach Chile. The weather   gets really windy at night, so they dig a hole in  the snow and huddle inside the sleeping bag, which   allows them to survive until morning. When they  finally reach the top of a rather tall mountain,   they’re devastated to discover there is still a  huge amount of miles to cover. For a moment they   consider giving up because they don’t have enough  food for such a trip, so Tintin volunteers to go   back, that way the food will be enough for only  Roberto and Nando. The trip is incredibly long   and difficult, but after lots of walking, the  duo finally comes down to the valley, where the   ground is more rocky than snowy. When Nando’s shoe  breaks, Roberto simply ties some fabric around it   and they keep going. One evening after dinner,  Roberto ends up throwing up, but Nando comforts   him and in the morning they’re moving again. All  this effort pays off because they eventually find   a river with fresh water and even a little lizard.  At that moment, they look up and to their shock,   they find a man on a horse staring at them. He’s  on the other side of the river and the noise of   the water doesn’t let him hear them correctly,  so after seeing them scream and wave their arms,   he throws some paper and a pencil at them. The duo  explains who they are and the man takes the paper   back to make some calls. Soon the message reaches  the Air Rescue Service and a new mission is   planned. The man comes back for Roberto and Nando  and takes them to his cabin, where they can eat   proper food at last. In just a few hours, the area  is surrounded by reporters who don’t hesitate to   ask awkward questions. When this reaches the news,  the group at the crash site is excited to hear   that rescue is coming soon, so they start washing  up to look as presentable as possible and gather   their things in bags, including pieces of the  plane as a memento. When the helicopters finally   arrive, they take Roberto and Nando with them  so they can act as guides. On day seventy-one,   the group is finally rescued, and they cry in  happiness as soon as they see the helicopters.   Someone records the whole rescue, including the  fact the group insists on bringing their bags even   if there’s no room for them. In total, sixteen  people have survived. Once they reach the city,   their families are already there waiting to  welcome them back. Then they’re taken to the   hospital, where a huge crowd is waiting to call  them heroes. The doctors keep the reporters out   and run full tests to check on their health,  especially since they notice the skeletal state   of their bodies. Since they can barely move, they  help each other have a shower, and then their   families get in charge of their grooming. Each  survivor is given their own bed, but that night   they’re still dealing with the after-shock,  so they huddle up to sleep as a group.