Montevideo: An American hiker in the Andes has stumbled on the wallet of a survivor from the 1972 plane crash made famous in the movie Alive, which shocked the world with tales of passengers eating human flesh to survive.
The chance discovery - which also included a roll of film, cash, identity papers and a jacket - had been buried in the snow for 32 years a few metres from the crash site, Uruguayan television reported.
The wallet's owner, Eduardo Strauch, said memories came flooding back of the harrowing 72 days stranded on the mountain at freezing temperatures.
The belongings will be handed to Mr Strauch this week. "It reminds me of some happy moments we had up there on the mountain, spiritual moments as well as all the suffering and pain we went through," he said on television.
A Uruguayan rugby team, accompanied by family members and friends, was on its way to Chile on October 13, 1972, for a friendly match when its aircraft struck a snowy mountain because of pilot error.
After 10 days on the mountain, the survivors heard on their radio that rescuers had given them up for dead. That was when they decided to dig up some of the dead bodies they had buried in the snow nearby and eat them.
Of the 45 people who crashed on the flight, 16 survived for 72 days on the mountain.
Reuters