The next day, a search plane flew over them but missed the crash site since the plane was painted white and blended into the surroundings. With the temperature dropping to thirty below zero at night, conditions were brutal and an additional five people died the first night. Their pilot was among the dead but the co-pilot was alive long enough to tell them they were near the city of Curico, which was an inaccurate statement that later led to a desperate decision that had life or death consequences. Those that survived included many people who would later die from their injuries. Out of the forty-five passengers only thirty-three people survived the crash. With only the main fuselage left, the remains of the plane skidded down the mountain slope until they stopped in a snow bank. The force of the collision was so great that it tore off the tail section of the plane. By the time the pilots realized that their position was wrong it was too late and the right wing was sheared off, followed soon by the left wing as they hit another peak. When Flight 571 mistakenly descended into the Andes mountains due to pilot error, its passengers were heading for a rugby game in Chile.
Left to survive on their own, the ill-equipped survivors had to survive in one of the most desolate places in the world and make choices that no human being should ever be forced to make in order to survive. Due to pilot error, their flight plan and position was incorrect which led search patrol to look for survivors in the wrong area and eventually to abandon the plane and passengers as lost. On October 13, 1972, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashed in the Andes Mountains with forty-five passengers aboard.
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