A plane carrying a Uruguayan rugby team crashed in the Andes mountains. Survivors endured 72 days of extreme cold and starvation, eventually resorting to cannibalism of the dead to survive until rescue. The story highlighted human will to live against overwhelming odds.

The event inspired books like 'Alive' and influenced poetry and narratives on survival ethics. It prompted literary explorations of taboo, faith, and camaraderie, with survivors' accounts feeding into broader discussions in modern literature about morality under duress, paralleling themes in war and disaster poetry.