The 10 best survival stories

For the Observer, writer and mountaineer Ed Douglas named ten of the most courageous tales of survival and the books and films they have inspired.

One entry on his list:

Andes, 1972

Uruguayan rugby compadres Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa not only survived when their plane crashed in the Andes in 1972, killing 29 of the 45 passengers on board, but then made an epic trek across the mountains to raise the alarm. The story of their fight for survival, resorting to cannibalism, became the 1974 bestseller Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivor by Piers Paul Read. Director Frank Marshall then made the film Alive, with Ethan Hawke starring as Parrado, who became a TV personality in Uruguay and wrote Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home.

Read about the other survival stories on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue