Daniel Fernández Strauch dies, survivor of the Andes’s tragedy | Culture | EUROtoday

“Daniel left, but not before fighting her, as he did all his life, giving an example. Listening to him gave you energy. He was a sparing man in words, he did not speak if it was not necessary. But that dryness was nothing more than a shield to protect a giant heart.” Thus, the Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona on Thursday by Daniel Fernández Strauch, one of many 16 survivors of the 1972 Andes accident that portrayed within the movie The snow societyin addition to earlier than They dwelland that he has died in his native Montevideo (Uruguay) at age 76.

Another survivor of the accident, Gustavo Zerbino, remembered him for the EFE company as “an endearing friend, a great father and a great grandfather.” “In the mountain range it was a bulwark. Great friend, always positive. As was the oldest put peace and tranquility,” he mentioned when he remembered the 72 days they lived in the course of the snow of the Andes, the place they had been rescued between October 22 and 23, after flight 571 of the Uruguayan Air Force crashed. Strauch, who later graduated within the profession of an agronomist, had been a part of the rugby workforce together with his cousins, who persuaded him to go to the journey. Like lots of the survivors, he wrote a e-book telling his expertise: Return to the mountain: a non secular survival informationin 2012.

The director needed to share on Instagram, as well as, one of many “last photographs” with the deceased, final October: “I had time to be with him one more trip”, after the premiere and promotion of Bayonne’s movie in Netflix that led him to win 12 Goya awards, together with higher movie: “Of all of the survivors of the Andes, he was one of many ones that was most excited to talk. filmmaker, who described him on the display as probably the most shy: “In the mountain he had to assume a very difficult role – as if there had been an easy one! – and he did it because someone had to do it. It was an honor to meet him, spend time with him. Thank you infinite for everything. A giant hug to his whole family, especially his wife, Amalia, and his cousins ​​Fito and Eduardo, already all his friends.

Also the actor who played him in The snow societyFrancisco Romero, he wanted to say goodbye to Fernández: “Thank you for sharing your incredible story and that of your friends, and for leaving us all. What luck I had to meet you, interpret you, and to listen to you.” The Old Christians Club, a rugby team to which the Uruguayans belonged to the Fairchild plane of the South American country’s Air Force when it crashed into one of the cliffs of the Andes mountain range, 3,600 meters high, also dedicated another publication to the deceased.

With the impact of the plane, 13 of the 40 crew members died on the spot, while others did it days later because of the wounds, the extreme cold of the place and an avalanche occurred on October 29. Despite this, 16 managed to survive: Gustavo Zerbino, Antonio Vizintin, Eduardo Strauch, Adolfo Strauch, Fernando Parrado, Ramón Sabella, Carlos Páez, José Luis Iniarte, Javier Methol, Roy Harley, Álvaro Mangino, Roberto Francois, Pedro Algorta, Roberto Canessa, Daniel Fernández and Alfredo Delgado.

Since then, four have died: Javier Methol (2015), José Luis Coach Inciarte (2023) and Álvaro Mangino Schmid (2025), which Bayonne also remembered: “In the crash his leg fractured and spent the 72 days crawling through the snow. However, despite his disability, he will be remembered for never having stopped working on the mountain, founding snow constantly to be able to supply water to his teammates.”

Bayonne’s film about its history is, according to the critic Carlos Boyero, “a reputable and emotional portrait of the horror that was lived within the airplane crash within the Andes” with a “highly effective aesthetics” and “as felt as I primarily made.”