Episode Details

From The Vault 🔐 — normally a member-only episode, unlocked this month for everyone.

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In 1972, a plane carrying a Uruguayan rugby team crashed high in the Andes. Stranded in freezing mountains, the young survivors faced hunger, avalanches, and a terrible moral choice. 

It would become one of history’s greatest survival stories.

• 1972 Andes plane crash of Uruguayan rugby team
• Navigation error; early descent; crash into mountain
• Survivors shelter in plane body; bitter cold at night
• Student doctors treat injuries with improvised tools
• Melting snow for water; radio says search is cancelled
• Starvation leads to agreement to eat the dead
• Deadly avalanche buries shelter; more survivors die
• Tail of plane found; batteries fail; sleeping bag created
• Parrado and Canessa walk west; find help by note
• Helicopter rescue; 16 survive; public debate and aftermath

 Full interactive transcript, subtitles and key vocabulary available on the website: https://www.leonardoenglish.com/podcasts/flight-571

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