Roberto Canessa: Last News

Good Morning Britain viewers have been left horrified over their breakfasts, as a plane crash survivor spoke about surviving by eating his deceased friends – but admitted that was not the worst part of his 72-day ordeal. Dr Roberto Canessa, now 71 and a paediatric cardiologist, was one of 16 survivors of a 1972 plane crash that saw Uruguayan Flight 571 veer off course in dense fog on the way to Santiago, Chile, and crash into the snowy Andes mountains.

Society of the Snow, directed by Spanish filmmaker J.A. Bayona and Spain’s submission into the 2024 Oscar race, is based on the true story of the 1972 Andes flight disaster in which a flight carrying Uruguay’s Old Christians Club rugby team for a match in Santiago, Chile, crashed on a glacier at the Valle de las Lágrimas (Valley of Tears).

READ MORE Leah Croucher: Human remains found in house as police launch murder probeThe survivors were rescued after two months when two of them trekked across the treacherous mountain range with no mountaineering gear. Carlos Paez spoke to the Sunday Times about the months they spent in the freezing mountains.He said: "I've done six million miles on American Airlines," he said, noting his lack of fear of flying."I'm condemned to tell this story forever more, just like the Beatles always having to sing Yesterday."Forty-five people boarded the doomed plane on October 13, 1972, including Montevideo's Old Christians Club's rugby team and its supporters.The survivors made the horrific choice to eat dead passengers after Roberto Canessa, a medical student, suggested they use the bodies of the deceased to sustain them.He said: "Of course, the idea of eating human flesh was terrible, repugnant."It was hard to put in your mouth.