Andes plane crash survivors recount resorting to cannibalism 50 years later

All 16 survivors of the 1972 Andes plane crash have reunited for the 50th anniversary, according to a report.

Uruguayan Flight 571 was set to take a team of amateur rugby players and their supporters to Chile. Instead, it crashed and stranded survivors for 72 days in the cordillera, forcing them to eat human flesh to stay alive.

“Of course, the idea of eating human flesh was terrible, repugnant,” Ramon Sabella, 70, told The Sunday Times in London. “It was hard to put in your mouth. But we got used to it.”

Sabella recalled the choice survivors made when Roberto Canessa, a medical student, suggested they eat the bodies of the deceased in order for the rest of them to survive, The Daily Mail reported. 

ANDES MIRACLE SURVIVORS MARK 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF PLANE CRASH WITH RUGBY GAME IN CHILE

“(Carlos) Paez said there was no other option for the young survivors, noting for the morbidly curious that human meat ‘doesn’t taste of anything, really.'” the report states.

Paez added it was the survivors’ duty to travel the world and share their story.   

15 DEAD, 20 INJURED IN ECUADOR PRISON MASSACRE

Forty-five passengers were on the ill-fated plane on Oct. 13, 1972. Authorities said during the flight, the pilot veered off course in a dense fog before crashing into the snowy Andes mountains. 

Twelve passengers were killed in the crash. Seventeen others died from injuries and suffocation from an avalanche that occurred days later. 

Desperate after more than two months in the frigid peaks, Canessa and Fernando Parrado left the crash site to seek help. It was the group’s last attempt at survival.

After 10 days of trekking, they spotted Sergio Catalan, a livestock herder in the foothills of the Chilean Andes. The conditions were such that the pair couldn’t get too close to Catalan, but from afar, they heard him say one word: “Tomorrow.”

“With that (word), our suffering ended,” Canessa said.

The survivors are listed as: Roberto Canessa, Fernando Parrado, Carlos Rodriguez, Jose Algorta, Alfredo Delgado, Daniel Fernandez, Roberto Francios, Roy Harley, Jose Inciarte, Alvaro Mangino, Javier Methol, Ramon Sabella, Adolfo Strauch, Eduardo Strauch, Antonio Vizintia and Gustavo Zerbino. 

A new Netflix adaptation of their story is in the works.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.