Andes survivors focus on saving lives

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/03/2011 (5562 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

GUSTAVO Zerbino was a 19-year-old medical student and rugby player when his Uruguayan team’s charter flight crashed in the Andes Mountains in 1972.

One of 16 survivors, he made it through 72 days of freezing, high-altitude hell wearing dress pants, a blazer and a pair of loafers. Not because of a miracle, but because of determination.

“If we want to live, it depends on us,” he recalled thinking. “The first rule was no one was able to complain.”

Zerbino and fellow survivor and rugby teammate Coche Inciarte are both in their 60s and in Canada for the first time, speaking at the University of Manitoba tonight. Their talk is sponsored by the U of M’s Student Life office.

Their story was made into a book in 1974 and the 1993 movie Alive! They survived more than two months, eating the dead passengers who had been preserved in the snow.

Zerbino remembers the 10th day of their ordeal, when they heard radio news reports that the search for them had been called off.

“They said we were dead and they’ll come back in February to pick up the bodies.”

Realizing they wouldn’t survive waiting for help, three of them set off to get help. They walked for 10 days until they were spotted by a Chilean cowboy on horseback, said Zerbino. After their plane carrying 45 people crashed on Friday, Oct. 13, they were rescued Dec. 23.

Now, the survivors are saving lives with a foundation called Viven! (Spanish for “alive”). It was set up in 2006 to support communities that struggle for survival daily, to encourage organ and tissue donation, and to spread the message of the Andes survivors: never give up.

They went to Copiapo, Chile, during last year’s mine accident to offer support to the trapped men and their families above ground.

Being in Canada with its cold weather brought back memories for Inciarte.

“It’s a pleasure to see snow again — from the indoors,” he joked. When he went outside to smoke a cigarette, the events of 38 years ago came flooding back. “I remember the noise when you put your foot in the snow,” Inciarte said.

“Something we learned that stays with us is how to appreciate life in another way, not as we did when we were young,” said the man who went on to have three children and manage a dairy farm and co-operative before retiring.

“People complain 24 hours a day about the weather, their family, the dog, the neighbour,” said Zerbino. Now president of the Uruguayan Rugby Union and the country’s pharmaceutical association, he has six grown children.

He and Inciarte speak tonight at 7 p.m. at the U of M. Admission is free for U of M students. Tickets are $24.95.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca