 On the morning of the 22nd, Fernandez and Edvardo listened to a Montevideo radio news station, as they did most mornings since Canessa and Parrado left, when they heard that Nando and Canessa had been found. Thinking it was a mistake, they tuned it to different stations and heard the same. The boys tried to tidy up the plane and themselves; the thought of burying the remains of their friends crossed their minds, but the surface of the snow was ice hard. They began to put on the best and cleanest clothes they could find, combed their hair, brushed their teeth, and tried to wash up. At around 1:00 that afternoon they heard the helicopters flying towards them, rushing outside, they saw two coming over the tops of the mountains. The first helicopter hovered inches from the snow, the door opened and a pack was thrown out, then a man jumped out, he was an Andinist, Sergio Diaz. Diaz was embraced by the survivors. Inciarte was helped to the open door, and was helped aboard by Parrado, who'd come along to guide the rescuers to the crash site; Mangino hobbled on his broken leg and scrambled aboard the first helicopter. With Inciarte, Mangino, and Parrado, the pilot, Maj. Carlos Garcia, had a full capacity and lifted off. The second helicoptor, piloted by Maj. Jorge Massa, took its place, it dropped two more andinists, Claudio Lucero, and Osvaldo Villagas, and a medical orderly, Jose Bravo. Algorta, Eduardo Strauch, Peaz and Fernandez clambered aboard. With this full load the second helicopter lifted away, leaving the last eight of the survivors behind with the three andinists and the medical orderly.It only took 15 minutes to reach the landing spot on the other side of the mountains, the boys jumped from the helicopter, and were met by Canessa, they embraced each other and rolled around in the grass. The 8 were air lifted to a hospital in San Fernando, where they would be examined, for these 6 newly rescued survivors their battle was over, they had survived 71 days on the mountain. But 8 were left behind on the mountain, and the weather conditions forced the rescue to be postponed until the next morning, which meant one more night on the mountain for them. They chatted with the Andinists who were left behind, and more, they had brought food with them. The boys ate the food and drank tea and lemon juice. The Andinists set up a tent outside the plane, they were invited to sleep in the hulk of the Fairchild, but the smell was unfriendly to their noses, but they talked Diaz into joining them. The next morning, the 23rd, they were treated to a good breakfast and then prepared for the next helicopters. Around 10:00 three appeared above the mountains. The first lowered and took 3 survivors. It lifted and a second came down it too took 3 more survivors, the third came down and took the last 2, including Zerbino and his suitcase filled with the personal property of those who had died on the mountain. The first helicopter returned to pick up the 4 andinists. The rest of the survivors were airlifted to a medical base, from there they were airlifted yet again to a hospital in Santiago. |