Flight 571 : 12th October, 1972 , A small chartered aircraft took off from Uruguay, South America. This aircraft was going to Santiago, the capital of Chile. Carrying some rugby players, tall and broad. There were 45 passengers in total, some of the players’ family and friends had tagged along. This flight was not going to be long. Usually, it takes only 3 hours to go from Uruguay to Santiago.
But on the way, you come across the huge Andes Mountains. The Andes Mountain Range in South America is the world’s longest mountain range. Other than the Himalayan mountains, the highest mountains are found here.
These beautiful mountains become devastating for the passengers in our story.
That day, on 12th October, there was a storm in the mountains. because of which, the plane couldn’t keep flying. The pilots then decided to stop midway and try to fly again the next day. The plane landed in Mendoza, Argentina for the night.
The next day, on October 13th, the plane took off again at 2:18 p.m. The pilots ensured that the weather had cleared up. So it was a smooth-sailing flight for the next hour. At 3:21 p.m., the pilots start descending the plane. The plane was quite close to Santiago but was still in the mountains.
Since there are high mountains right next to the city. While descending, suddenly there was terrible turbulence. The plane started shaking horizontally. Around this time, clouds gathered around the plane. Nothing was visible except the clouds.
