Sergio Catalán, the story of the Chilean muleteer who saved the survivors of the Andes tragedy

A rugby team, a terrible plane crash, cannibalism and the miraculous appearance of a mule driver.

The story of Flight 571 of the Uruguayan Air Force, which fell on the Andes mountain range on October 13, 1972, has been revived thanks to the film

The Snow Society

by JA Bayona.

The film takes over a large part of the real story, although it does not consider in depth the role of the Chilean Sergio Catalán, who was key to the 16 survivors being found and rescued.

The farmer, who was dedicated to driving animals in the mountain area of ​​the city of San Fernando, about 142 kilometers south of Santiago de Chile, was the one who made contact with the victims, who carried out extreme actions such as eating the corpses of some of those killed in the disaster to survive.

Although his participation was key, his appearance in the film is fleeting.

In real life, Catalán was recognized as a hero.

He also became beloved by the 16 survivors, who came to regard him as a father.

The bond between the Uruguayans and the mule driver extended until his death, which occurred in February 2020.

Who was Sergio Catalán

Sergio Hilario Catalán Martínez was born in 1929 in Puente Negro, a small town located in the foothills of the province of Colchagua (the current region of O'Higgins).

He was married to Virginia Toro, with whom he had nine children.

At the time of the accident he was 43 years old and as a rider he was dedicated to transporting animals through the mountains.

In December 1972 he worked alongside Juan de la Cruz, one of his sons, driving cattle near the Barroso River, located south of the current Metropolitan Region.

It was there where he made contact with Uruguayans Roberto Canessa and Fernando

Nando

Parrado, both members of the Old Christians Club rugby team, who survived a plane crash that left 29 dead.

The athletes had begun a long expedition from the mountain range of the province of Mendoza, in Argentina, to the side of Chile - the country where they were originally going to land to play a match with the local team Old Boys - to seek help.

Contact with Canessa and Parrado

Catalán and his son saw the survivors and initially believed they were hunters or tourists.

The Uruguayans were weak after their long journey, so their voice was going to be inaudible to the mule driver.

The Chilean managed to establish communication with Canessa and Parrado by throwing a piece of paper with a pencil, with which one of them wrote the following message: “I come from a plane that fell in the mountains.

I am Uruguayan.

We have been walking for ten days.

I have a friend wound up.

There are 14 injured persons on the airplane.

We have to get out of here quickly.

We don't know how.

We don't have food.

We are weak.

When are they going to look us upstairs?

Please we can't even walk.

Where we are?".

The notice to the authorities

The rider traveled from the meeting place to his hometown, traveling about 80 kilometers.

Upon arriving at a Carabineros checkpoint he reported the situation.

The police and authorities did not believe the mule driver's story and even thought that he was drunk, but he had with him the writing given by one of the survivors.

“It was hardly credible, for us, that they were really survivors of the Uruguayan plane,” recalled Ramón Canales, one of the co-pilots of the helicopters that participated in the rescue, in an interview with

EFE

.

More than two months after the disappearance of the plane, the Chilean operational teams estimated that the accident had left no survivors and that they should only wait until the summer to take advantage of the thaw and finish the search for the bodies.

Canessa and Parrado were sent to the Los Maitenes ranch in San Fernando, where they were interviewed by Chilean television at the time.

On December 23, 1972, after an operation that lasted two days, all the passengers who were alive after the impact were rescued.

A friendship of almost 50 years

Sergio Catalán was considered a hero by rugby players, establishing a friendship that spanned almost five decades.

His name appeared in all the stories of the survivors and he was visited by them on every visit they made to Chile.

One of those closest to the muleteer was Roberto Canessa, who as a doctor lent him a hand along with the rest of his colleagues to get him a hip operation.

The mule driver died in February 2020 at the age of 91.

“What can I tell you about Sergio that you don't know... he is a very beloved man and we owe him a little of our lives, and the children and grandchildren that we have,” Canessa said in a statement to the newspaper El

Mercurio

.

Gustavo Zerbino, another of the survivors, attended the funeral on behalf of the rest of the team.

The Chilean received several awards during his lifetime.

In 2011, the municipality of San Fernando inaugurated the

Monument to the Arriero,

a sculpture dedicated to both him and the farmers dedicated to guiding animals.

The Andes 1972 Museum, located in Montevideo, also has a figure of the Chilean.

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