What the Valley of Tears looks like now, site of the Andean tragedy that inspired the ‘Snow Society’

40 passengers and 5 crew members boarded flight 571 Uruguayan Air Force, on October 13, 1972, on the way to Santiago de Chile. Among them were 19 young people from the rugby team. Ancient Christianswith some of his friends and family, to play a match against a Chilean rugby team.

But due to a navigation error by the pilots, The plane crashed in the Andes Mountainsand the only 16 survivors of the accident were only rescued 72 days later.

‘The Snow Society’: What other films, documentaries, books and podcasts have been published about the 1972 plane crash

This story is known as the Tragedy of the Andes and was featured in a film directed by JA Bayona, The Snow Associationavailable in Netflix.

When the plane crashed into a mountain, it lost its tail and both wings. The hull slid like a sled and landed in a snowy valley known as the Valley of Tears.

The survivors lived there together for more than two months, until two of them, Fernando Parrado And Roberto Canessa They decided to cross the mountain range to get help as no rescue was coming their way.

These are the shocking real images of the Andean tragedy and how ‘The Snow Society’ showed it

This is what the Valley of Tears looked like in 1972

The Valley of Tears is located 3,600 meters above sea level, on the border between Argentina and Chile. At the time of the accident The area was completely covered in snow.so that the plane did not break up in the fall, but slid down the mountain.

It was a completely deserted place, with no plants or animals living in those extremely cold conditions.

“I think I’m going crazy because I’m thinking about eating the bodies of our friends”: the dramatic testimonies of survivors of the Andean tragedy that inspired the film “The Snow Society”

The temperatures that Andean survivors faced that inspired the film ‘The Snow Society’

This is what the Valley of Tears looks like now

During the half century that has passed since the accident, the survivors and relatives of the deceased have returned to the Valley of Tears several times, to honor the place where some were saved and others perished.

The fuselage was burned, the bodies of the dead were buried, and a cross was erected where part of the plane once rested. There the survivors left a message: “In memory of our visit, the 16 and our 29 brothers were united as always”.

In addition, a monument collects the names of the deceased and very close by are personal objects that visitors have left behind for years.

But if there’s one thing that stands out about the area, it’s that The Valley of Tears is no longer covered in snow. Now, the landscape is gray and brown because of the mountains and stoneswhile only a little snow falls.

The melting mainly occurs climate change and to global warmingbecause temperatures no longer allow the same amount of snow as 50 years ago.

(JO)