How to choose between life and morality?
World Chinese Weekly columnist: Linghukong
If you are in a desperate situation and are severely short of food, are you willing to live on the body of your companion? Or when you die, are you willing to contribute your body to your companions?
What I want to tell today is such a story. After 48 years, countless people called it a "miracle", and its full name was "The Andean Air Crash in 1972."
When the plane crashed into the snow-capped mountains, the survivors were forced to eat the bodies of their companions to survive. When they were rescued, it caused a huge sensation and controversy.
In 1993, Hollywood made this incident into the movie " Alive ", which accurately restored the dilemmas faced by the survivors at that time.
The film’s stark and realistic depiction of human nature once again aroused a fierce debate in American society: how to choose between life and morality?
To answer this question, we must go back to 1972 and thoroughly understand the plane crash.
On October 12, 1972, in order to go to the Chilean capital of Santiago to participate in a rugby match, a 19-man amateur rugby team in Uruguay contracted Air Force 571 aircraft.
This team is called the old Christian team. The night before the departure, Captain Anthony told everyone that there are still many empty seats on the plane, and you can take your family or friends on the free plane.
In the 1970s, flying by plane was still a rarity, not to mention free. The protagonist of the story, Nado Parador, started this journey with his mother and sister.
However, he never thought that this decision would become the biggest regret in his life.
When the plane flew near the Andes, it temporarily landed in Argentina due to bad weather. They set off again the next morning, but they deviated from their course unknowingly because of the cloud cover (ài dài) over the mountains.
After 3 o'clock in the afternoon, there was a slight turbulence in the plane. Unexpectedly, the plane was bumpy and bumped into a mountain suddenly.
Under the violent impact, the tail of the plane broke instantly, and the passengers sitting in the back row fell one after another. The front part of the fuselage glided down from the mountain, and finally stopped on the snow about 1 meter thick.
"For the first few hours, I hardly felt anything. Then the sky gradually brightened, and my consciousness slowly flowed back to my brain with the blood. I heard voices around me. I slowly stretched out my hand to touch my head. It was found that the dried blood clots stuck together in the hair."
When Parado, who was unconscious, woke up, he discovered the plane crash. Two of his friends have passed away, and his mother has entered heaven. The 19-year-old sister is lying weakly wounded all over her body.
After the crash, Captain Anthony quickly recovered his calm, and he assembled the uninjured people to form a rescue team. Two team members, Canesa and Gustavo, who had studied medicine, took the initiative to take care of the wounded.
Although he tried his best to rescue, it was hard to violate God's will. There were 45 people on the plane, including the crew, and 11 people died on the spot. The main driver was killed, the co-pilot was dying, and died soon after.
However, they have no time to grieve, because the top of the Andes is simply not a place for people to stay.
The ice is snowy, the air is thin, and the cold is torturing the body, and the nose can't breathe enough oxygen. Even the sun is full of ultraviolet rays, which makes their lips and skin blisters.
The day was mild, but the night was deadly, and the temperature dropped to minus 30°C. In order to make room in the cabin, they moved the corpse outside, and then blocked the loopholes with luggage and wooden chairs, making the cabin 5°C higher than the outside.
▲ Screenshot of the film "The Remains of the Tribulation"
Although they huddled together to sleep and covered themselves with stitched seat covers to keep warm, the low temperature of minus 25°C still caused 5 severely injured survivors to die in the first night.
In order to survive better, they developed a strict meal plan during the day. Each person drinks a small glass of red wine and eats half a piece of chocolate every day. However, day after day, they still did not wait for rescue.
▲ Screenshot of the film "The Remains of the Tribulation"
Until the fourth day, an airplane appeared in the sky. They called loudly, and the plane tilted its wings.
The survivors suddenly boiled, thinking it was the response from the other side. Looking forward to the scene of inviting everyone to eat pizza, they were so excited that they ate all the rest of the food to condolences the hunger for many days.
However, they miscalculated. The plane did not see them at all because the thick clouds blocked the view.
▲ Screenshot of the film "The Remains of the Tribulation"
One night, the always strong captain suddenly collapsed: "I am not God, I can't save you. I tried to do it because of the captain, but who can do it? Who has this power? I can't control it, I miss my mother."
A lady also cried and shouted: "I miss my child."
On the eighth day, Parador's sister died. After losing his mother and sister one after another, seeing his father goodbye became the only conviction that supported him to live.
Man is a strange animal, and he will not give up if he grabs a straw. Although they did not wait for the plane, they motivated each other, not so much as comforting others, as comforting themselves.
On the 10th day, the team leader heard the news on the radio that the government had stopped the rescue. When this information became public, everyone had to face reality.
▲ Screenshot of the film "The Remains of the Tribulation"
At the same time, another issue is imminent. All the food has bottomed out, even the cowhide on the suitcase and the straw under the seat cushion have been eaten.
In hunger and sadness, Parado said to the people around him: "I want to eat the pilots, after all, they are the ones who caused us to suffer."
Now that there is no food and ammunition, they must eat if they want to live, and the food around is only the corpse of their companions, they have to consider this cruel proposal.
▲The old photos of the year When Parador called everyone together for a discussion, they met with opposition from the majority.
"I can't do it, it's disgusting."
"I would rather die than do this."
"How to stay innocent in order to survive and eat people?"
"I'm afraid I will be cruel, how will I face my relatives when I go back?"
▲ Screenshot of the film "The Remains of the Tribulation"
But there are also a few people who are extremely calm, trying to persuade everyone.
"Do you believe that after a person dies, the soul will leave the body? If the soul leaves, then all that is left is a corpse."
"We are isolated from the world, just like on the moon. The earliest humans must have encountered this situation."
After a heated argument, everyone got together again in the evening.
▲ Screenshot of the film "The Remains of the Tribulation"
Canesa, who has been taking care of everyone for many days, said: "If I die, my body can help you live, I hope you eat it."
Under his emotional narration, many people silently applauded, and jointly made a horrible agreement- if I die, you can eat me.
There is only one lady who resolutely refuses to eat human flesh because of her religious beliefs.
On the second day, Canesa was the first to walk to the corpse, cut off a piece of meat, and slowly put it in his mouth.
After eating, he fell to the ground and handed the blade forward. Under his guidance, the survivors stepped forward one by one.
▲ Screenshot of the film "The Remains of the Tribulation"
From then on they began to fill their hunger with human flesh.
Survival or destruction is a question. Survival or morality is also a problem.
"Your relatives want to see you again", this belief finally defeated the fetters of morality and became the reason for everyone to live.
There is a line in "Shawshank's Redemption": "Among all things, hope is the most beautiful; the most beautiful thing will never die."
But there are some hopes in the world that will be shattered like a balloon. After knowing that the government stopped the rescue, they decided to start self-help and take the initiative to create opportunities.
They selected 3 strong young people to form an adventure team to find the battery in the tail of the plane. As long as the battery can be retrieved, the radio in the cabin can be used for help.
▲ Adventure team overnighting away
After a night of severe cold, the adventure team found the tail wreckage and missing persons the next day. They took the relics and returned to the cabin excitedly.
They were excited when they found the wreckage, and concluded that the tail of the aircraft was nearby. The lady who has been reluctant to eat human flesh also wanted a child because of her understanding of life. Under the persuasion of her husband, she began to eat human flesh.
▲ Screenshot of the film "The Remains of the Tribulation"
But the disaster came once again as if it had been negotiated.
When they were sleeping at night, an avalanche occurred suddenly, and the cabin was completely buried by heavy snow. Eight more people died, including the lady who had just decided to have a baby.
▲ Screenshot of the film "The Remains of the Tribulation"
Frequent deaths have made people numb to the sense of sorrow.
After 50 days of life in the snow, the weather gradually became warmer, and they once again formed an adventure team to search for batteries. Surprisingly, the tail of the plane was only 3 hours away from them.
But in the face of complicated wiring, no one can connect the battery to the radio. Failure to fail is the most heartbreaking, but they still haven't given up.
On the 61st day, they used the materials in the tail of the plane to make sleeping bags. At the same time, another person passed away, leaving only 16 survivors.
Parador, Canesa, and another companion once again teamed up for the most adventurous route: climb the mountains to the west and reach Chile.
▲ Screenshot of the film "The Remains of the Tribulation"
The steep peaks and slippery rocks made them almost fall off during the climb. After finally climbing to the top of the mountain, I saw a higher mountain standing up, as if provoking them.
Once Canesa wanted to take a path, but he didn't expect that there was a cliff in front of him. After stepping on it, he slid down. Fortunately, he grabbed the cliff with his hands. Parado moved his body little by little, and carefully rescued him.
▲ Screenshot of the film "The Remains of the Tribulation"
After passing by with death, they moved on. After 9 days of trekking, they finally saw the forest, lake and horseman, and jumped into the water with excitement.
When they came back again, they were sitting in a rescue helicopter, and everyone cheered. The 16 last survivors were finally saved.
It took 72 days from the crash to the rescue.
▲ Screenshot of the film "The Remains of the Tribulation"
The scenes of the movie stayed in the joy when they were rescued.
However, returning to reality, they encountered great controversy after being rescued. At that time, there was an article in the newspaper "Survival by cannibalism?" ": "The 16 survivors survived eating the bodies of relatives and friends."
▲ Screenshot of the film "The Remains of the Tribulation"
For ordinary people who have not experienced that kind of disaster, cannibalism is an unimaginable thing, even if they are eating corpses. As a result, this group of survivors took on the notoriety of "cannibals".
In this regard, the two survivors believed that although the process was painful, the results were worthwhile.
▲ Canesa in reality
Canesa once said: "To survive by cannibalism is the most painful experience in my life. I asked myself if it was worth it, and the answer is it. This is for the living people to continue to survive, if the ground was my corpse. , I also hope you do the same."
Parador believes: "In that situation, the rules of human society no longer belong to us. The rules in the mountains are determined by nature. We must adapt to this rule in order to survive. At the beginning, we had 27 people from the crash. To survive, we put all our hands together and formed a circle, and then we made this agreement."
▲ Parador in reality
From their perspective, it is really difficult to condemn such behavior.
In that state of existence, it can no longer be measured by simple human morality. Survival is more important than anything else.
Just like the fish that first landed on land, if they are required to live in accordance with the way fish live, then evolution will be blocked, and creatures on land will not exist at all. Time changes and the countermeasures must be adjusted.
It is not so much that they survive by cannibalism, as it is because of the belief of "seeing their family again."
They used initiative instead of complaining to win the chance of survival and achieve the so-called miracle.
▲Museum set up by the city of Montevideo, Uruguay for crashers and survivors
Living in the gutter, you also have to look up at the stars. When you fall in a deep valley, don't confess your fate with self-pity.
Whether it is the new crown epidemic or the various accidents encountered in life, belief is the strongest weapon of mankind.
Just like the words Parador said: "If you want to die, you must also be lost on the journey."
▲ Screenshot of the film "The Remains of the Tribulation"
Back to the question at the beginning, dear reader, do you agree with their approach?
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