Before Flight 571 of the Uruguayan Air Force crashed in the Andes on October 13, 1972, and all the events described in the book “The Society of the Snow” took place, a U.S. military plane called Ciudad de Madrid, flying from the naval base of Naples to the base of Rota in Cádiz, wrote the prequel to Juan Antonio Bayona’s film. The plane, a DC4 – known as a C54 in its military version – crashed with 24 passengers on board in a mountain chain, covered in several meters of snow and below zero temperatures. This happened on March 8, 1969, in the Sierra Nevada in Granada, only about 13 kilometers away from where Bayona later filmed his movie.
Some locals in Jerez del Marquesado remember seeing a plane flying too low that midday, but no one paid much attention to it. The accident involved a team of basketball players who had come from a championship in Italy. The plane had been involved in rescue efforts following an earthquake in Agadir two months earlier. The pilots lost control of the plane, and it crashed into a snow-covered area at an altitude of 2,450 meters, resulting in numerous injuries but miraculously no fatalities.
A rescue operation was quickly organized with the help of local residents from Jerez del Marquesado and surrounding villages, who showed solidarity and worked together to reach the crash site and assist the injured passengers. The injured were brought down to the village, and the American military personnel involved in the accident were taken to the military hospital in Granada for treatment. The town received the remains of the plane as a gift, which they used to improve various aspects of their community, including repairing the church roof, buying instruments for the municipal band, fixing roads, and establishing a water distribution system.
Over the years, the U.S. embassy sent powdered milk and cheese annually to the town, which was distributed at the local school. However, this assistance eventually stopped. Today, the town remembers the events of the plane crash and the support they received, with a hiking trail known as the “Solidarity Route of the Plane” which follows the path to and from the crash site to the village. The story of the Ciudad de Madrid plane crash in the Sierra Nevada serves as a testament to the resilience, unity, and compassion displayed by the local community in the face of tragedy.
