MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Andes crash survivor Álvaro Mangino dies in Montevideo

Mangino was 19 years old at the time of the accident

Álvaro Mangino Schmid, one of the 16 survivors of the 1972 Andes plane crash, passed away in Montevideo just one day before his 71st birthday due to respiratory issues from pneumonia.

Last year, after the release of the Netflix movie The Snow Society depicting the historic tragedy, Mangino shared a photograph of his last ascent to the Valley. “Once we got down and arrived at the camp where we spent the night, the sky gifted us with a double rainbow. I like to think it was a sign from my friends who stayed on the mountain that they were glad we had gone to visit them. I already knew it was the last time I was going up and was saying goodbye,” he wrote on his Instagram account. By that time, he was not in good health and needed oxygen assistance.

Mangino, 19 years old back then, was not a part of the Old Christians rugby team but joined friends on the ill-fated Uruguayan Air Force Fairchild 227 aircraft that crashed on October 13, 1972. Of the 45 passengers, 33 survived the impact, but only 16 endured 72 days of extreme conditions in the mountains.

“I went because of two friends with whom we saw each other quite a bit at the time, they were from Christian.... I wasn't going to go either, but Marcelo Pérez called me, made me go to the house and convinced me,” he once recalled.

He suffered fractures in his left tibia and fibula, limiting his mobility, yet he contributed by melting snow for water while relying on makeshift hammocks. The survivors, including Mangino, resorted to eating the flesh of deceased companions to survive—an experience he called his hardest decision.

Rescued after 72 days, he later married Margarita Arocena, had four children, and worked as an agricultural technician and businessman while giving lectures on his ordeal.

His story gained fame through the 1993 film Alive and the 2023 Netflix film Society of the Snow, directed by J.A. Bayona, in which Argentine actor Juan Caruso portrayed him. Mangino actively supported the latter film’s promotion.

“I met Álvaro, Margarita, and his whole family. The first thing that transmitted to me when I saw him was his willpower,” Caruso told reporters.

“He will be remembered for never stopping working on the mountain, constantly melting snow to be able to supply water to his companions,” said Bayona in bidding him farewell.

Mangino became the third Andes survivor to pass away, following Javier Methol in 2015 and José Luis “Coche” Inciarte in 2023.