COPIAPO, Chile, (Reuters) – Fifteen of Chile’s 33 trapped miners were hoisted to safety in a cramped rescue capsule today, punching the air and hugging their families in a triumphant end to their two-month ordeal.
One by one, the miners climbed into the capsule, which is barely wider than a man’s shoulders and equipped with a gas mask and escape hatches for emergencies, and took a roughly 15-minute journey through 2,050 feet (625 meters) of rock to freedom.
Scenes of jubilation erupted every time a miner arrived at the surface of the San Jose gold and copper mine in Chile’s northern Atacama desert. Rescuers said they hope to pull out the remaining 18 miners before the end of the day.
While the first to be rescued were in good shape, some have been struggling with illness and are more fragile, so medical teams were on hand to treat them.
Mario Gomez, at 63 the oldest of the men and a miner for 50 years, suffers from silicosis and was breathing from an oxygen mask as he reached the surface. He was helped out of the capsule, and immediately dropped to his knees to pray with his yellow hard hat still perched on his head.
Euphoric rescuers, relatives and friends broke into cheers — and tears — as the miners emerged to breathe fresh air for the first time since the mine collapsed on Aug 5.
“This is a miracle from God,” said Alberto Avalos, the uncle of Florencio Avalos, a father of two who was the first to emerge, shortly after midnight.
The miners have spent a record 69 days in the hot, humid bowels of the mine and, for the first 17 days, they were all believed to be dead.
Their story of survival and the extraordinary rescue efforts have captured the world’s attention.
The operation was executed almost flawlessly through the night and included dramatic live images of miners hugging rescuers in their tunnel deep inside the mine. An estimated 1,500 journalists from around the world were at the mine to report on the rescue.
Chilean President Sebastian Pinera waited at the mouth of the rescue shaft to greet and hug the men.
‘GOD AND THE DEVIL’
Mario Sepulveda, the second miner to escape, had everyone laughing when his whoops of joy resounded on the surface even before he arrived. He then stepped out of the capsule, opened up a yellow bag, pulled out souvenir rocks from below and began handing them out to the rescuers and even Pinera.
“I’m so happy!” Sepulveda yelled, grinning, punching his fist in the air and hugging everyone in sight.
However, he also sounded a darkly serious note.
“I have been with God and I’ve been with the devil,” he later said in an interview, calling for deep change to protect workers’ rights.
Each of the miners wore dark glasses to protect their eyes after spending so long in the dimly lit tunnel below.
Like wives on the surface who had their hair and nails done for the occasion, the men looked groomed and clean-shaven.
Rescuers were finally able to deploy the capsule, dubbed “Phoenix” after the mythical bird that rose from the ashes, after drilling a narrow escape shaft down to the miners and reinforcing it with metal casing to prevent rocks from falling and blocking the exit.
Engineers said the final stage of the rescue still has its risks but that the capsule was handling well in the shaft.
Each man’s journey to safety takes about 15 minutes. The capsule travels at about 3 feet (1 meter) per second, or a casual walking pace, and can speed to 10 feet (3 meters) per second if the miner being carried gets into trouble.
The miners can communicate with rescue teams using an intercom in the capsule. As they emerge, they are being put under observation at a nearby hospital for two days.
UMBILICAL CORD
Rescuers originally found the men, miraculously all alive, 17 days after the mine’s collapse with a bore hole the width of grapefruit. It then served as an umbilical cord used to pass hydration gels, water and food, as well as letters from their families and soccer videos to keep their spirits up.
Medics say some of the men are psychologically fragile and may struggle with stress for a long time after their rescue.
Pinera ordered an overhaul of Chile’s mine safety regulations after the accident. His popularity ratings have surged and his government has won strong praise for its handling of the crisis.
Thirty-two of the miners are Chilean but the other is from neighboring Bolivia and the rescue has even helped improve ties between the two countries, locked in a bitter dispute over access to the Pacific for more than a century.
Bolivian President Evo Morales was at the mine to welcome the Bolivian miner, Carlos Mamani, as he was lifted to safety today and he then thanked Pinera and his government for the rescue work.
“I and the Bolivian people will never forget this great effort,” Morales said as he appeared with Pinera at a news conference, adding that the rescue will create greater confidence between the two countries.
The mining industry has played a central and often tragic role in Latin American history, starting with the hunger for gold and silver that drove the Spanish conquest and led to the enslavement of indigenous peoples.
For centuries, conditions in Latin American mines were miserable but they have improved dramatically in recent decades and the industry has over the last 10 years helped fuel a boom in some of the region’s economies, including Chile.
