Roberto Fernando Jorge François Álvarez (born 23 November 1951), better known as Bobby François, is a former Uruguayan rugby player and agricultural producer, known for being one of the sixteen survivors of the

Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 was the chartered flight of a Fairchild FH-227D from Montevideo, Uruguay, to Santiago, Chile, that crashed in the Andes mountains in Argentina on 13 October 1972. The accident and subsequent survival became known ...

crash in the

Andes Mountains The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long and wide (widest between 18°S ...

in 1972. Like many other survivors, Bobby had studied at the Stella Maris school in the Carrasco neighborhood and was a member of the Old Christians rugby team.

Tragedy of the Andes

At the time of the plane crash, Bobby was 20 years old (and turned 21 at the mountain range). His companions say that he seemed to not have a survival instinct, from the moment of the accident, when he sat down in the snow, lit a cigarette and said: "We've had it!". On the mountain, Bobby seemed to have no will to live. The others thought he did not care whether he lived or died, such was his degree of apathy and depression. He was not very cooperative. He would melt ice when he was forced to. If they threatened to stop giving him food if he didn't work, he would reply "It seems fair to me". Nevertheless, the group never left him alone and took care of him, to the point that Daniel Fernández massaged his feet so that they would not get infected. In Bobby's words: "I never saw a clear way out, what I could see was a series of shades ranging from opaque gray to deep black. In that inner struggle I lived the seventy-two days".

Personal life

As of 2023, he is married to Graciana Manini. Pablo Vierci
''Society of the Snow. The Definitive Account of the World’s Greatest Survival Story''

Little, Brown and Company Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries, it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emil ...

, 2023. p. 308. . He has six children: Roberto, Federico, Sofía, Josefina, Milagros and Diego. He is a technician and agricultural producer and lives between his ranch and Carrasco. Bobby has kept a low profile and has not been seen much in the media.

In popular media

Roberto François was played by actor Jack Noseworthy in the 1993 film '' Alive'' and by actor Agustín Berruti in the 2023 film '' Society of the Snow''.

Bibliography

* The 1993 film, '' Alive'', is an adaptation of this book. * Originally published in Spanish in 2008 as ''La Sociedad de la Nieve: Por Primera Vez Los 16 Sobrevivientes Cuentan la Historia Completa.'' The 2023 film, '' Society of the Snow'', is an adaptation of this book.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Francois, Roberto 1951 births Living people Uruguayan Roman Catholics Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 survivors Uruguayan rugby union players People from Montevideo Uruguayan farmers