Aircraft crash survivor Nando Parrado told travel agents to run successful businesses but leave time for their loved ones in an emotive speech about the event that changed his life 36 years ago.
Parrado, speaking at the Advantage conference and for the first time to a British audience, now runs six companies and is heralded as one of the world’s best speakers.
He was one of 29 passengers on board an aircraft which crashed in the Andes mountains in Chile. Parrado and his fellow rugby team mates were stranded for 72 days in temperatures of below -30C. The survivors were rescued after Parrado walked for ten days suffering from extreme fatigue and hunger to find help.
His experiences were used as the basis for the 1993 film Alive.
In a powerful speech, he told delegates: “I should not be here, but I have never looked back. When you live through something like that, success is the only option. The average age on that aircraft was 18. I was 19. Why did I survive? We survived because we achieved excellence at 18. We acted as a team from 10 minutes after the crash.”
Parrado, who lost his mother and sister in the crash, added his experiences had led him to lead life to the full.
He said: “Nothing I have faced in my business career will compare with that. I have been laughing all my life in the last 36 years. I have no stress – that was lost at 14,000 feet.”
He told agents to make the most of their home lives. He added: “Run successful agencies but leave a space for affection.”