Read Online CANNIBALS (True Crime) by Ray Black - Free Book Online
Authors: Ray Black
Tags: nonfiction
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all found the cold unbearable. They decided they should try and plug the hole at the rear of the plane, and using suitcases, seats, and indeed whatever other debris they could find, they started to build a makeshift wall in the back of the plane.
The following morning, now October 14, the weather conditions were just as bad. During the night four people had died, and Grazeila Mariani died of her injuries later that morning. Of the 45 people who set out from Montevideo two days before, only 27 were left alive.
T HE O NLY C HOICE
The survivors of the crash never gave up hope in the following days that they would be rescued and it was on the third day that they heard the sound of a plane flying overhead. They rushed out onto the snow and screamed as loud as they could, waving their hands frantically in the air. They felt sure the plane had seen them, but when no help arrived the truth started to sink in – nobody knew they were there.
There were two medical students among the survivors and they made regular checks of the injured. To help make them more comfortable they devised some simple hammocks by using luggage webbing and some poles that were stowed in the luggage compartment. Another one of the survivors, Fito Strauch, invented a water-making device using a piece of aluminium out of the back of one of the seats. He managed to bend it into a spout, which he filled with snow and wedged between two suitcases. At the bottom of the spout he placed a bottle and when the sun melted the snow, it poured into the bottle. He managed to stockpile quite a few bottles of water by using this method.
Their food supply was very sparse and all that was now left was some chocolate, nougat, crackers and jam. They also had some large bottles of wine and brandy that the pilots had purchased in their stopover at Mendoza. This, however, was not sufficient for the 26 survivors. They rationed the food out as best they could, but it was clear that if they were not rescued soon they would totally run out of supplies. They knew that if they didn’t find another source of food they were all destined to die.
The survivors turned to one another with a look of grim resignation on their faces, they knew the only way they were going to survive this ordeal was to eat the flesh of their dead companions. One of the passengers, Canessa, who was one of the first ones to mention the idea, went out into the snow and, using a shard of glass, cut off several slivers of flesh from one of the bodies that had been laid out near the fuselage. He brought the flesh back to the others and, one by one, they forced the meat down their throats, some retching as they took the meat. A few of the passengers actually refused to take part, but as the dwindling supplies of chocolate ran out, even they were forced to eat human flesh.
They had a stock of ten bodies in their makeshift cemetery, and they all agreed that Parrado’s mother, sister and Methol’s nephew, were not to be used unless they became desperate. Just like the chocolate, the meat was rationed out. As the protein took effect on their weak bodies, the survivors started to grow stronger and they started to make plans on how they could best get out of the mountains.
E XPEDITIONS
The survivors took it in turns to make expeditions through the mountains, mostly in the effort to find the missing tail portion of the plane. They did this for two reasons firstly because they felt that their friends who had fallen out over the mountain may possibly still be alive and living in the wreckage, and secondly because they wanted to get to the batteries. The one remaining crew member, Carlos Roque, who happened to be the mechanic, told them that if they could find the batteries contained in the tail, they would be able to run the plane’s radio and thus signal for help.
On their second expedition up the mountain, the survivors managed to find the bodies of the six men who had fallen from the plane, the
The following morning, now October 14, the weather conditions were just as bad. During the night four people had died, and Grazeila Mariani died of her injuries later that morning. Of the 45 people who set out from Montevideo two days before, only 27 were left alive.
T HE O NLY C HOICE
The survivors of the crash never gave up hope in the following days that they would be rescued and it was on the third day that they heard the sound of a plane flying overhead. They rushed out onto the snow and screamed as loud as they could, waving their hands frantically in the air. They felt sure the plane had seen them, but when no help arrived the truth started to sink in – nobody knew they were there.
There were two medical students among the survivors and they made regular checks of the injured. To help make them more comfortable they devised some simple hammocks by using luggage webbing and some poles that were stowed in the luggage compartment. Another one of the survivors, Fito Strauch, invented a water-making device using a piece of aluminium out of the back of one of the seats. He managed to bend it into a spout, which he filled with snow and wedged between two suitcases. At the bottom of the spout he placed a bottle and when the sun melted the snow, it poured into the bottle. He managed to stockpile quite a few bottles of water by using this method.
Their food supply was very sparse and all that was now left was some chocolate, nougat, crackers and jam. They also had some large bottles of wine and brandy that the pilots had purchased in their stopover at Mendoza. This, however, was not sufficient for the 26 survivors. They rationed the food out as best they could, but it was clear that if they were not rescued soon they would totally run out of supplies. They knew that if they didn’t find another source of food they were all destined to die.
The survivors turned to one another with a look of grim resignation on their faces, they knew the only way they were going to survive this ordeal was to eat the flesh of their dead companions. One of the passengers, Canessa, who was one of the first ones to mention the idea, went out into the snow and, using a shard of glass, cut off several slivers of flesh from one of the bodies that had been laid out near the fuselage. He brought the flesh back to the others and, one by one, they forced the meat down their throats, some retching as they took the meat. A few of the passengers actually refused to take part, but as the dwindling supplies of chocolate ran out, even they were forced to eat human flesh.
They had a stock of ten bodies in their makeshift cemetery, and they all agreed that Parrado’s mother, sister and Methol’s nephew, were not to be used unless they became desperate. Just like the chocolate, the meat was rationed out. As the protein took effect on their weak bodies, the survivors started to grow stronger and they started to make plans on how they could best get out of the mountains.
E XPEDITIONS
The survivors took it in turns to make expeditions through the mountains, mostly in the effort to find the missing tail portion of the plane. They did this for two reasons firstly because they felt that their friends who had fallen out over the mountain may possibly still be alive and living in the wreckage, and secondly because they wanted to get to the batteries. The one remaining crew member, Carlos Roque, who happened to be the mechanic, told them that if they could find the batteries contained in the tail, they would be able to run the plane’s radio and thus signal for help.
On their second expedition up the mountain, the survivors managed to find the bodies of the six men who had fallen from the plane, the
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