Roberto Canesa: Medical Student Who Walked Through the Andes Mountains for 10 Days After a Tragic Plane Crash Appears in ‘The Snow Society’ | the world

Miracle or tragedy? The Andes accident is, by far, one of the most memorable feats in history, re-popularized with the premiere of the Netflix film. ‘The Snow Society’. It depicts what was experienced by a group of 16 youths who survived after the plane carrying them to Chile crashed in the middle of a mountain range. Although their existence is due to teamwork, it is undeniable to show the participation of some of them, which are different. Roberto Canesa.

Kenesa, then a 19-year-old medical student, was a cornerstone of the plane crash survivors, not only caring for her comrades’ wounds and injuries, but accompanying them. Fernando ParadoLasted 10 days together Andes Mountains. In this way, they got help after searching Sergio CatalanA mule driver who informed authorities that Flight 571 had been damaged Uruguayan Air Force He left people alive.

What did Roberto Canesa do?

Roberto Jorge Canessaor better known Roberto Canesa, Andes was one of the 16 survivors of the disaster. He was born on January 17, 1953 in Montevideo, Uruguay. He grew up in that city and became part of the team of Rugby Old Christians ClubFrom Stella Maris School.

It is thus that on Friday, October 13, 1972, Roberto, along with 45 other people, boarded a chartered plane of the Uruguayan Air Force that would take them from Montevideo’s Carrasco Airport to Santiago de Chile, where they had a scheduled match.

However, about an hour after leaving their stopover in the city of Mendoza, the plane crashed into the Valley of Tears, a glacier located in the center of the Andes mountain range, about 4,000 meters above sea level.

As a result of the impact of the plane, 13 people died, so Roberto Canesa And Gustavo Zarbino, who was studying medicine at the time, treated many of the wounded. Likewise, with the support of his colleagues, he was in charge of making an improvised hammock that served as a stretcher.

On the tenth day the group began to run out of food and the hope of rescue became increasingly slim. It is at this point that Canessa talked about the possibility of feeding on carcasses to conserve energy, because, in response to the low temperatures in the area, their bodies burned more fat and lost a lot of weight.

“Our general goal was to survive, but what we lacked was food. We had long lacked reserves and had no plant or animal life to explore. (…) We knew the answer, but it was too terrible to think“, Roberto Canesa recalled in his book ‘I had to survive’ about the practice of anthropology.

During the following weeks, Parado was part of various expeditions, first, to find the tail of the plane in search of more supplies and to find radios to find out what was happening.

Canessa and his journey through the Andes Mountains

The trigger to undertake the last campaign was the death of Numa Turkatti. A day later, on December 12, Roberto Canessa, Fernando Parado and Antonio Vizintin They left the Valley of Tears in search of help. For this they were given enough warm clothes for 15 days, as well as meat.

Two days later, on December 14, they reached the top of the mountain and found that all but a few very distant peaks were covered with snow. Thus, they realized that the expedition would be more complicated and chose Visintin to return with the others so that the meat would last them for more days.

Both Roberto and Nando knew that their walk through the Andes mountain range could be fatal, as they faced the extreme mountains, altitude and cold of the area with their bodies in a terrible state of health.

This journey lasted for 10 days. On Wednesday, December 20, with less and less energy and barely able to walk, they stopped at a river, where Roberto Canesa could see a man on his horse on the other side. Due to the noise of the water, the only thing they could understand was that it would come back for them the next day.

On December 21, the man who found them, later identified as muleteer Sergio Catalan, gave them food while they exchanged the famous letter with which they announced their feat to the world.

“I came from a plane that crashed in the mountains. I’m from Uruguay. We have been running for ten days. A friend of mine is injured. There are 14 injured people on the plane. We have to get out of here fast and we don’t know how. We have no food. We are weak. When will they see us upstairs? please. We can’t even walk. Where are we? SOS“Wrote Nando’ Parrado.

The following were the months they had been longing for. The 14 youths who remained in the Valley of Tears were rescued in two stages and all were relocated to Santiago, Chile. There he underwent a thorough medical examination and was reunited with his family.

Kanesa: From Surviving to Saving Lives

After an accident in the Andes, Roberto Canesa He tried to move on with his life. He married his girlfriend Laura Suraco — with whom he experienced an emotional reunion after surviving the Andes —, completed his degree in medicine and specialized in pediatric cardiology.

He has been awarded the National Prize for Medicine in Uruguay three times for his work. Likewise, he works as a university professor and director of the Department of Cardiac Ultrasound and Prenatal Diagnosis of Congenital Heart Diseases. The Italian Hospital of Montevideo. There he is also part of the heart transplant team.

His work as a doctor has also allowed him to undertake social assistance, as he helps families who have heart disease.

On the other hand, he has devoted himself to conveying what he experienced in the Andes through conversations and with the publication of his book ‘I had to survive’.