‘Alive!’ Survivor Wins $2.5 Million in Lottery
Jose Luis Inciarte has twice beaten the odds.
Twenty-one years ago, he was one of 16 rugby players and fans who survived a plane crash and 70 days of freezing weather in the high Andes. Late Thursday, he told a radio station he had won a $2.5-million New Year’s lottery prize.
Inciarte’s wife, Soledad, said Friday that 11 family members who pitched in 1,500 pesos ($450) for lottery tickets will share the jackpot. Each will receive the equivalent of about $160,000 after taxes.
“For now, we’re just planning to make a nice trip abroad with our kids,” she said.
Inciarte, 45, who is now a dairy farmer, was one of 45 rugby players and fans flying home from Chile in October, 1972, aboard a Uruguayan air force plane that crashed in the Andes. Only 16 survived, staying alive by eating the flesh of those who had died.
The story was told in the 1993 film “Alive!” based on the earlier book by Piers Paul Read.
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