The remaining portion of the fuselage slid down the mountain about 725 metres (2,379 ft) before striking ice and snow on a glacier.
The aircraft began descending too early to reach Pudahuel Airport and struck a mountain, shearing off both wings and the tail section.
While crossing the Andes during poor weather, the inexperienced co-pilot of the Fairchild FH-227D mistakenly believed they had reached Curicó, despite instrument readings that indicated otherwise. The accident became known as the Andes flight disaster and the Miracle of the Andes.
Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, also known as Miracle Flight 571, was a chartered flight originating in Montevideo, Uruguay, bound for Santiago, Chile, that crashed high in the Andes mountains on 13 October 1972.
