In the aftermath of their miraculous rescue, Roberto Canessa, a medical student at the time, faced an awful task — speaking to the families of those who died, some of whom were eaten. "I had to go to their families later to explain," Canessa told The Independent in 2022. He said those who survived made a pact: Should they die, the same thing would happen to them.
"[T]hank God, people were very receptive and very supportive and they consider what we did something we had to do so everything went very smoothly," Canessa told People in 2016. According to the 2006 book "The Go Point: How to Get Off the Fence by Knowing What to Do and When to Do It" by Michael Useem, it was Canessa himself who saw clearly how dire the situation was and told the others cannibalism was their only option. "It is meat. That is all it is," Canessa said.
After the rescue, Canessa recalled telling his mother what happened. '"I told her, 'Mother, we had to eat our dead friends,' and she said, 'That's okay, that's okay, sweetie,'" Canessa said (via People). Alone on the mountain, they "were in a very vulnerable situation," he added.
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