Fernando "Nando" Seler Parrado Dolgay is a Uruguayan businessman, producer, motivational speaker and television presenter, and former rugby player and racing driver. He is one of the sixteen survivors of the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 which crashed in the Andes on 13 October 1972. After spending two months trapped in the mountains with the other crash survivors, he, along with Roberto Canessa, climbed through the Andes mountains over a 10-day period to find help.
Parrado (left) and Canessa with Chilean Huaso Sergio Catalan
Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571
Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 was the chartered flight of a Fairchild FH-227D from Montevideo, Uruguay, to Santiago, Chile, that crashed in the Andes mountains on 13 October 1972. The accident and subsequent survival became known as the Andes flight disaster and the Miracle of the Andes.
T-571, the FH-227 involved in the accident
The Tinguiririca Volcano as seen from the Tinguiririca river valley
Unknown to the survivors, the abandoned summer resort Hotel Termas el Sosneado was only 21 km (13 mi) due east from the crash site.
The survivors' expedition had to climb the western rim of the glacier cirque before descending into Chile. A rock pile memorializing the victims and survivors is in the foreground.
