Society of the Snow: Survivors recall eating the flesh of dead friends in order to survive

Survivors of the 1972 Andes plane crash opened up about having to eat the flesh of their fallen teammates in order to survive.

The tragic story of the Old Christians Club rugby union team has once again been brought to the public eye following the release of Netflix's new movie, Society of the Snow.

The movie tells the true story of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, which was flying an amateur rugby team from Montevideo to Santiago, Chile.

However, on their way through the snowy Andes — just short of their destination — into the Andes mountains, at an altitude of more than 13,000 feet. Twelve people died on impact, with others seriously injured. Just 29 of the passengers survived to the second day.

Check out the trailer for Society of the Snow below:

But after enduring the unforgiving weather conditions - and the fact that it took 72 days for every survivor to be rescued - only 16 made it off the mountain alive.

Their story was first immortalized in pop culture thanks to the 1974 book Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors, written by Piers Paul Read - which was later made into a Hollywood movie in 1993.

One of the most disturbingly captivating elements of the survivors' story is that they resorted to eating the flesh of their fallen friends in order to survive. In Netflix's new movie, the ethical and moral debate over this decision is front and center - as some publications at the time referred to the survivors as "cannibals".

Some of the survivors, such as Carlos Páez, refuted this claim, saying (per El País): "This bothered us because it wasn’t true [...] Some magazines said we were cannibals. That’s not true, because [being a cannibal] means killing another person because you like to eat human flesh. We didn’t do that."

In a previous interview with The Sunday Times, some of the survivors of Fairchild FH-2270 spoke out about the decisions that led to their survival.

The outlet reports that following the crash, the only food available to the survivors was eight chocolate bars, a tin of mussels, some almonds, some dates, three small jars of jam, and a few bottles of wine. Once this supply had run out, the group made a pact that they would eat the bodies of those who did not survive.

One survivor, Ramon Sabella, recalled: "Of course, the idea of eating human flesh was terrible, repugnant..."

He continued: "It was hard to put in your mouth, but we got used to it. In a sense, our friends were some of the first organ donors in the world – they helped to nourish us and kept us alive."

Two of the survivors of Flight 571 after being rescued. Credit: Bettmann / Getty

Fellow survivor Páez added: "Eating human flesh doesn’t taste like anything, really".

Paez also spoke about how he now travels the world, "condemned to tell this story for evermore", as he has made a career as a lecturer.

Another of the survivors, Eduardo Strauch, also recalled the devastating lengths he had to go to in his own 2012 memoir, Out of the Silence.

In his book, Strauch recalls the moment he first tasted human flesh, writing: "I swallowed it with disgust [...] I felt my entire body rejecting that tiny bite [...] a taboo thousands of years old had been crushed in my mouth."

Strauch also described the taste as being like "rice", in a later interview with The Sun.

Per the New York Post, Strauch reflected on how the harrowing experience actually "united [him] with the universe and with other living beings in a profound way".

The survivors also told The Times that the group reunites every year on December 22 - the day the rescue began - in order to remember those who didn't make it off the mountain alive.

Society of the Snow is now available to stream on Netflix.

Featured image credit: Amanda Edwards / Getty