I had to survive : how a plane crash in the Andes helped me to save lives
(Book)

Translated from the Spanish.

On October 13, 1972, an Uruguayan air force plane carrying members of the Old Christians rugby team and many of their friends and family members crashed in the Andes mountains. I Had to Survive offers a gripping and heartrending recollection of the harrowing brink-of-death experience that propelled survivor Roberto Canessa to become one of the world s leading pediatric cardiologists. As he tended to his wounded teammates amidst the devastating carnage, rugby player Roberto Canessa, a second-year medical student at the time, realized that no one on earth was luckier: he was alive and for that, he should be eternally grateful. As the starving group struggled beyond the limits of what seemed possible, Canessa played a key role in safeguarding his fellow survivors, eventually trekking with a companion across the hostile mountain range for help. No one could have imagined that there were survivors from the accident in such extreme conditions.