Читать книгу Extreme Survivors: 60 of the World’s Most Extreme Survival Stories - Collins Maps - Страница 23

Of the forty-five people on board, twelve died in the crash or shortly thereafter, including all five crew. A further five people had perished by the next morning, and one more succumbed to injuries on the eighth day.

The remaining twenty seven now found themselves in a living nightmare. Many of them were severely injured, with broken limbs and internal damage. Although there were two medical students among the survivors, they had very little equipment. They had to salvage bits of the aircraft to create makeshift splints and braces.

They had expected to be in the relatively warm climes of Santiago; now they were 3,600 m (11,800 ft) up an Andean mountain in winter. Temperatures during the day were unpleasantly sub-zero, but the nights were brutally cold. No one had cold-weather clothing or any suitable footwear. The altitude made breathing, even when stationary, very difficult. Labouring in those conditions would be a serious endeavour.

They didn’t know it at the time, but they would be stranded in this barren landscape for more than two months.