Every Death In Society Of The Snow Explained (During The Crash & After)

The many Society of the Snow deaths show how the scale of the tragedy of J.A. Bayonais is so immense that it can be hard to keep track of everyone who died during and after the 1972 Andes flight disaster. Throughout the movie, text appeared on-screen giving the names and ages of those who died. While they were left on screen for several seconds to let the weight of the deaths sink in, there were so many who died in the Andes that remembering all of them properly can be challenging.

Bayona paid extreme attention to the details of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, going as far as to actually film Society of the Snow on a mountaintop, just like the Andes where the plain crashed in real life. His attention to detail also extended to the real people who died on the mountain, as Society of the Snow includes the names of everyone on the flight. In total, 29 of the 45 passengers and crew died over the 72 days the survivors lived on the mountain before being rescued. Society of the Snow went to great lengths to remember everyone who died in the Andes.

29 Eugenia Dolgay de Parrado

Crash

Nando and Susy’s mother, Eugenia died during the plane’s initial crash into the mountain. She was at the front of the plane and died when the seats broke free from the floor, crushing her. While she was not featured prominently in the movie, her death brought one of the most emotional moments as Nando recalled his father telling him to take care of his mother and sister.

While Society of the Snow has moments of gore and gruesomeness, it is not an overly violent movie, focusing more on the survivors struggling to live in the harsh elements and without food. However, the death of Eugenia is certainly one of the hardest moments to watch with the image of her being crushed brief yet disturbing. However, the movie avoids being gratuitous in the moment either.

28 Graziela Gumila de Mariani

First Day

Graziela was one of the last passengers to die on the first day. She had been trapped underneath the wreckage of the seats. One of the most impactful aspects of the movie is that the survivors are seen as heroic and dedicated to helping each other, but they are still only human. Graziela’s death is a fitting reminder of this as they attempt to save her only for her to die of her injuries.

In the movie, she was referred to as “the lady who was screaming,” due to the pain she was experiencing through the night. It is a reminder that, even in the aftermath of the crash, the horror of its results lasted for a while. She was on her way to attend her daughter’s wedding. Society of the Snow might not focus much on these characters who died so early in the events of the story, but it honors the fact that they were real people with lives of their own which were tragically cut short. She was 43 years old.

27 Dante Lagurara

First Night

Dante was the co-pilot of Flight 571, and he was flying the plane when it crashed. He was a new pilot with little experience, and he misread the plane’s position over the Andes. Thinking they had already passed the mountain range, he turned too soon and hit a peak. Dante was pinned against the dashboard of the plane and later succumbed to his fatal wounds.

In the movie and in real life, Dante survived the initial crash until the morning of the first day. When the survivors found him in the cockpit, he tried to explain why he turned the airplane when he did. In real life, he also asked some of the survivors to take his pistol and end his life, but the survivors refused. He incorrectly suggested the location of the Society in the Snow crash, giving the survivors early hope that they would be found. He was age 41 when he died.

26 Esther Horta de Nicola

Crash

Esther died in the initial crash with her death being confirmed among the bodies taken out of the wreck by the survivors. She died with her husband, Francisco, who was traveling with the Old Christians Club rugby union team. The death of her and her husband left the couple’s four children orphaned. She was 40 years old at the time of her death.

25 Francisco Nicola

Crash

Along with the many young athletes from the GrazielaOld Christians Club rugby union team who were involved in the crash, there were also a number of the team’s support staff along on the trip. This included Francisco who was the rugby team’s physician. As he was sitting at the front of the plane, he died immediately after being thrown forward and crushed. His wife, Esther, was sitting next to him, and the couple died together. His death was confirmed on the first day of the crash along with his wife. He was 40 years old.

24 Julio Ferradás

Crash

Some of the victims of the crash were not seen in the movie, however, the Society of the Snow honors all of them by putting their names on the screen to mark their death. Julio Ferradás was the pilot of the plane, but he was not flying when they hit the mountain. He was killed instantly during the crash after being thrown through the cockpit window. He was a colonel in Uruguay’s army.

Something Society of the Snow leaves out from the true story is that the crash actually took place on the second day of the trip. The pilots initially stopped over in Argentina en route as the weather in the Andes was deemed too risky. The following day was the day of the crash with pilots deciding to go ahead with the journey rather than turn back. Ferradás was 39 years old.

23 Julio Martínez Lamas

First Night

Julio died on the first night while sleeping in the fuselage due to injuries from the crash. He was not a member of the rugby team, but a fan. He also founded the Stella Maris School, where many of the passengers had attended.

22 Felipe Maquirriain

First Night

Felipe died on the first night due to trauma he sustained in the crash. Arturo invited Felipe to come along to Chile. He was a member of the rugby team and an economics student, and he died at the age of 22.

21 Francisco “Pancho” Abal

First Night

Along with losing family members on the ill-fated flight, Nanda also lost one of his best friends as a result of the crash. Francisco “Pancho” Abal was one of the rugby teammates who was on the plane. Like Nando, he sustained a head injury in the crash. However, while Nando fell into a coma that he eventually woke from, Francisco died during the first night following the crash with Nando learning about his death when he awoke. Francisco had invited Javier, his cousin, and Liliana to the rugby match with the married couple also being two pivotal characters in the movie.

20 Fernándo Vázquez

Crash

Fernándo was a medical student and friend of Roberto. Roberto and his other friends nicknamed him “El Flaco.” The two studied together at the Faculty of Medicine, and Roberto invited Fernándo along for the trip. His leg was cut open during the plane crash, and he bled to death soon after.

19 Carlos Valeta

Crash

Carlos’s death was not shown on screen, but he was also thrown from the plane when the tail broke off. In real life, Carlos survived his initial fall from the plane but died while making his way down the glacier. He fell into a snow pile and suffocated. In real life, the rest of the survivors saw Carlos before following the plane crash, but his fall put him out of their sight. His body was not found until Day 63.

18 Susana “Susy” Parrado

Day 9

Nando Parrado is one of the main characters in Society of Snow and is seen as a hero of the story as it is his determination that allows them to reach civilization and send for a rescue of the other survivors. However, he also suffered great losses before that victory. After losing his mother in the crash, his sister Susy was the next in his family to perish.

Susy survived for several days after the crash, though she was in poor health throughout. During the crash, she received multiple bruises and cuts, and she had frostbite on her feet. In the movie, Susy succumbed to her wounds and the cold on Day 9 in her brother’s arms. Nando would protect Susy and Eugenia’s bodies from being eaten until he departed to find help on Day 61. Then, he gave the other survivors permission to use his mother and sister to stay alive. She was

17 Gastón Costemalle

Crash

The plane crash in Society of the Snow shows that the plane was actually torn in half during the crash. All of the survivors were in the front half of the plane while the fates of their friends in the rest of the plane were not known until later. Numa, Gustavo, and Daniel went hiking up to the crash site in hopes of finding supplies. However, they only discovered several of their deceased teammates.

Gastón’s body on Day 12 while searching for batteries for the radio in the tail of the plane. Gastón died after being sucked out of the plane during the initial impact and had been dead for days before his body was found. He was one of the friends who convinced Numa to accompany them to the rugby match at the beginning of the movie.

16 Ramón Martinez

Crash

Ramón Martinez was another one of the victims of the crash whose body was discovered by the other survivors on Day 12 of the wait for rescue. He was another one of the passengers who fell out the tail of the plane upon the plane separating on impact and subsequently died. He was among the five crew members of the flight all of whom died as he was a lieutenant and the navigator on the plane.

15 Ovidio Ramírez

Crash

Ovidio Ramírez’s body was also discovered during the search for the plane’s tail and batteries. He had been dead since the initial crash. Like Ramón Martinez, he was another one of the plane’s crew members who was killed in the crash. He was a sergeant in the Air Force and acted as the plane’s purser, meaning he handled money and supplies.

14 Alexis Hounié

Crash

Alexis Hounié was a member of the rugby team and one of the bodies the survivors found during their search on Day 12. He was a veterinary student in life. Hounié was an example of how the movie was able to honor the victims of the movie even if they did not feature prominently as characters. The other survivors come across Hounié’s wallet, showing his ID card as a way of signaling his death.

13 Guido Magri

Crash

Guido was also described by Nando as one of his best friends and teammates. He died in the initial crash and was found on the mountain after being pulled from the plane mid-crash. He studied agronomy, a subsection of agriculture. The scene of the other survivors coming across these bodies is a moment of being further confronted with the tragedy of the situation. When the plane split in two, there was a sense of the other characters simply being lost. However, the image of finding Guido in the snow was a powerful confirmation that none of the others survived.

12 Daniel Shaw

Crash

Daniel had also been pulled from the plane during the crash, but his body was found further away and not until Day 62. He was a cattle rancher in life. He was a substitute player for the Old Christians club and the Stauchs’ cousin.

11 Liliana Navarro de Methol

Day 17

Many of the survivors lost loved ones in the initial crash which made Javier and Lilliana stand out as they were a married couple who managed to survive and remain together among the other survivors. Sadly, their story would also end in tragedy as she was killed after surviving 17 days when an avalanche struck the crash site.

She was buried alive under the snow and her husband. Though they were able to dig her out after getting Javier out, she was dead by the time they got to her. Throughout the movie, the survivors look for meaning as to why this tragedy happened to them. In one of the most emotional scenes in the movie, Liliana’s death gave Javier his meaning, as it inspired him to bring her love for him back to their children.

10 Marcelo Pérez Del Castillo

Day 17

Marcelo was the leader of the Old Christian Club rugby team and the de facto leader of the survivors during the first days following the crash. He believed that a rescue operation was underway and that they would be found within days, which led several characters to put off leaving the crash site until the radio was repaired. He also advised the others in Society of the Snow not to resort to cannibalism.

Once the radio was working again, Marcelo realized that the search had been called off and he had made a mistake, and apologized to the other survivors and asked them to begin eating to survive longer. Marcelo died during the avalanche on Day 17, which was a devastating moment for the rest of the survivors as they looked to him as a beacon of hope.