Plane crashes during memorial for 1972 plane crash in the Andes

On October 13th of 1972 a plane carrying the Uruguayan rugby team Old Christians to Santiago de Chile crashed in the Andes. Photo / File

An aircraft carrying two people taking part in a memorial service for the 1972 Andes air disaster has crashed in Uruguay.

The pilot survived the crash but the passenger died.

The plane, a light Piper aircraft, crashed in the sea during the annual memorial barbecue near Montevideo on Sunday.

The passenger's body was retrieved from the sea on Monday.

The people taking part in the anniversary event on the beach watched in shock as the plane plunged into the water, only 400m offshore.

According to the BBC, the passenger was Chilean Fernando González Foretic, who had previously worked as a doctor for the Chilean rugby team and Santiago's Universidad Católica football team.

The memorial was to mark the anniversary of the 1972 air disaster, when a plane carrying a Uruguayan rugby team crashed in the Andes.

The crash survivors were stuck in the Andes and forced to eat those who did not make it.

The disaster was later dramatised in the movie Alive.