Have you ever thought about what you would do if you were stranded? The survival stories ahead are about people who found creative ways to survive and make it home. Some might sound unbelievable, but they really happened. These examples show how people can switch into survival mode when they have to. Each of the next three stories is unique and impressive. Hopefully, you never end up in a situation like this.
The Emile Leray Story
In 1993, Emile Leray, a 44-year-old French electrician, took a solo trip to Morocco. During his journey, he drove his Citroën 2CV into the Sahara Desert. The Citroën 2CV, a French car similar to a VW Beetle, was made from 1948 to 1990. It was known for being affordable, practical, and good for long trips.
During his trip in the Sahara, Leray hit a rock near Tanton that damaged his car’s chassis. He was stranded about twenty miles from the nearest town, with only enough food and water for ten days. Thinking fast, Leray took apart his broken Citroën 2CV and used the parts to build a working motorcycle, which was better for the desert. He managed to reach the town of Tanton in Morocco.
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Leray achieved other things in his life, but he is best known for taking apart and rebuilding his Citroën 2CV to survive. His skills as an electrician helped him turn one vehicle into another. Even though he was far from home and facing tough desert conditions, he found a creative way to survive.
The Rugby Team from Uruguay
There have been stories of resilient individuals who have survived plane crashes and have had to resort to making the plane that crashed into a makeshift home to survive. One of the most prolific stories happened in the Andes Mountains when a Rugby team in Uruguay crashed in the middle of the forest.
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In October of 1972, a plane carrying the Uruguayan Rugby team crashed in the Andes Mountains. The plane was a Uruguayan Air Force Fairchild F-227, a fairly large military aircraft.
Though there were several survivors, the challenge was determining where the plane had crashed. It had crashed in an extremely high part of the Andes Mountains, making trekking down the mountain a challenge in itself.
There were 45 passengers. Right before impact, severe turbulence caused the plane to drop suddenly, and the Andes quickly appeared ahead. The crash was devastating.
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Though most passengers were alive, several had been sucked out of the plane, and a few died upon impact. It was amazing that there were any survivors at all, and the crash site was less than ideal. They had collided with a glacial valley. The tail of the F-227 was gone, and most of the airplane was severely damaged.
One of the Worst Survival Stories
The remaining 29 survivors of the Rugby team had to be innovative in their survival efforts. The average temperature at night in the Andes Mountains is anywhere from 23 degrees Fahrenheit to 41 degrees. However, depending on where in the Andes you are, it can get to negative temperatures. Once they were rescued, only 16 of the original 45 passengers remained on the plane.
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In order to survive, the Rugby team members had difficult choices to make, including eating some of the already deceased passengers. As awful as that is, they had no other food options available to them where they were located. They drank water from the snow and huddled together in foil to keep warm. The group lived like this for 72 days because there was no way to get help due to the remote, treacherous location of the crash.
They still had one working radio and, of course, the plane’s remnants. Finally, one day, they heard on the radio that the search party formed to find the Rugby team players had been called off. This meant they had to try to find help themselves. A few members began preparing to find any way out, hoping to find someone to rescue them in these remote mountains. The rest stayed behind.
The Avalanche
Unfortunately, a few days into this excursion, an avalanche fell and killed more of the members of the Rugby team. The rest continued and went so far as to crawl across glacial areas in the hope of finding some type of life. Eventually, they found a river with running water and spotted a man on a horse. They made contact with the man, who then gave them shelter, food, and the passengers, who at that point were barely alive, told the man they came from the plane that had crashed, and others needed help.
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Finally, at least two helicopters arrived and conducted a dangerous rescue of the remaining members. The area was still extremely dangerous for aircraft; however, eventually, the remaining members of the team were finally rescued and taken to the hospital. Their experience was one they would never forget, but many had beaten the odds of survival in a glacial area for 72 days.
Piece by Piece-Innovative Survival
At times, a survival story may not be the traditional kind, but it is nonetheless a story of overcoming a challenge.
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In Brazil, a homeless man named Orismar de Souza decided he needed a car. Homeless, with no money but that which he acquired by way of panhandling, how was Orismar going to get a vehicle? So he decided to build one.
He began collecting junk parts for the car’s initial frame. He then realized he would need some money for additional parts, so he let himself starve to save up for them. Soon after purchased the parts he needed and borrowed tools to assemble the vehicle.
Now all he needed was the engine, which he found on a motorcycle. Even with no experience and living an entire life without anything, he was able to build a vehicle and, in a way, a home for himself, piece by piece.
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Survival can take many forms, but each of these stories reveals that, given the right tools and determination, human beings can overcome the most challenging obstacles.
