Search parties from three countries looked for the missing plane. However, since the plane was white, it blended in with the snow, making it virtually invisible from the sky. The initial search was canceled after eight days. The survivors of the crash had found a small transistor radio on the plane and Roy Harley, one of the survivors, first heard the news that the search was canceled on their 11th day on the mountain.
Upon hearing the news, the survivors began to sob and pray — all except Gustavo Nicolich, who looked calmly up the mountains which rose to the west. "Hey boys," he shouted, "there's some good news! We just heard on the radio. They've called off the search." Inside the crowded plane there was silence. As the hopelessness of their predicament enveloped them, they wept. "Why the hell is that good news?" another shouted angrily at Nicolich. "Because it means," Nicolich said, "that we're going to get out of here on our own." The courage of this one man prevented a barrage of total despair.
The survivors had a small amount of food: a few chocolate bars, assorted snacks and several bottles of wine.

License information: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
MPAA: PG
Go to source: https://www.commonlit.org/texts/the-1972-andes-flight-disaster