'Alive' crash survivor’s ID found 32 years later

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay - An American hiker in the Andes stumbled this week on the wallet of a survivor from the 1972 plane crash made famous in the movie Alive, which shocked the world with tales of eating human flesh to survive.

The chance find - 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, according to Uruguay television reports.

The wallet's owner, Eduardo Strauch, said memories came flooding back to him of the harrowing 72 days stranded on the mountain at freezing temperatures.

The US hiker, whose name was not given, came upon the belongings while exploring the mountain.

They will be handed to Strauch next week. "It reminds me of 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.

An 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 plane 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 on the flight, sixteen survived 72 days on the mountain. They were only rescued when two of the survivors struck out to find help and ran into a Chilean man on horseback.

Hollywood dramatised the story in a 1992 movie.

- REUTERS