Nando Parrado, survivor of the tragedy of the Andes, at the IBA Conference in Mexico  

«Fear saves you»

The start of the International Bar Association’s global conference in Mexico featured Uruguayan Fernando (Nando) Parrado, survivor of the plane crash in which a Uruguayan air force plane carrying a rugby team from Montevideo to Santiago de Chile crashed into the Andes Mountains 52 years ago, as Keynote Speaker.

Of the 45 passengers, only 16 eventually returned home.

Nando was one of the two survivors who decided to make his way across the mountain range in search of help, effectively saving the lives of the rest of the survivors.

In front of a packed hall, Nando told conference delegates overwhelming details of his experience of struggling between life and death. He spoke of fear, luck, the struggle for survival, faith, friendship and leadership.

The last thing Parrado remembers before the crash was seeing the mountain just below the plane, followed by a terrible noise and darkness. A blow to the head kept him in a coma for three days. When he awoke, he discovered the true horror: the plane had broken into two pieces and his mother had died in the crash.

His sister would die in his arms a few days later, as would several of his friends.

Thus began the ‘impossible challenge’ of surviving at an altitude of more than 4000 metres, in summer clothes, with no shelter, no food, no water and temperatures below -20 °C.

Nando shared in first person his unique experience of being condemned to death and yet achieving the impossible: fighting for survival, finding motivation, pushing the limits of resilience, facing unprecedented moral challenges, empathising with other survivors, relying on friendships, supporting group leaders and becoming a leader himself, finding the strength to train his legs and traverse the mountains for 10 days, and finally being rescued.

An emotional Nando addressed the audience, saying: ‘None of us here have ever been hungry. Hunger is the worst fear a human being can feel. Not knowing when you will eat again is the most primal fear. They would never understand it until their bodies start to devour themselves from the inside.’

‘We made a pact"

Thanks in large part to the group’s decision to donate their bodies to feed the survivors, Uruguay is now a leader in organ transplantation in Latin America, driven by the Viven foundation, where several of the survivors encouraged organ donation years after the tragedy. ‘We were the first conscious donors of our bodies’.

Nando stressed: ‘I was angry with myself because, after my mother and sister died, I couldn’t cry or feel sorrow. Later I discovered that it’s because your brain eliminates emotion in order to survive’.

‘Fear saves you,’ he said. ‘I became a survival machine.

He also talked about faith: ‘We prayed a lot. When you are dying, you pray a lot’.

On leadership, Nando noted: ‘We were a similar group and belonged to the same religion, were of a similar age, etc. We found a leader within 15 minutes. Without a leader we would not have survived’.

Nando wondered for years: ‘Why did we survive against all odds? ‘Years later, I realised that we survived because we were a fantastic group, because we had many leaders, each one leading in the things he knew how to do. We put it all together and the result was life.’

He also spoke of the importance of luck. The flight had no boarding cards, so each passenger chose seats random when boarding the plane. Nando chose row 9. Behind row 9, everyone died on the first of the three impacts. Behind him, everyone chose the wrong seat.

‘You think you own your life, but there is fate, which comes out of nowhere without warning. The best and the worst day of your life start the same way’.

The first film to portray the tragedy was Viven (1993), in which Ethan Hawke played Nando. The film was based on the book of the same name written by Piers Paul Read in 1974.

The most recent production, from Netflix, is Society of the Snow, in which Nando is played by Argentinean actor Agustín Pardella.

IBA vice-president Jaime Carey commented:

‘Nando Parrado is a person who evokes very deep feelings and offers a perspective on life in which it is very clear what is really important. I think the message he conveys is very inspiring in terms of the values of life, which is so important in these turbulent times in the world. It was an honour to have him as a guest speaker at the IBA in Mexico and we are very grateful that he agreed to participate’.

ibanet.org