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Jubilation as first of Chile's 33 miners rescued
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Jubilation as first of Chile's 33 miners rescued
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Miner Juan Illanes celebrates as President Sebastian Pinera, rescue workers and government officials watch, when he became the third miner to be hoisted to the surface in Copiapo October 13, 2010. Chile's 33 trapped miners are set to travel nearly half a mile through solid rock in a shaft just wider than a man's shoulders on Tuesday night, as their two month ordeal after a cave-in draws to an end.
Credit: Reuters/Ivan Alvarado
By Cesar Illiano and Terry Wade
COPIAPO, Chile |
Wed Oct 13, 2010 2:31am EDT
COPIAPO, Chile (Reuters) - The first of Chile's 33 trapped miners were hoisted to safety in a capsule barely wider than a man's shoulders on Wednesday, cheering, punching the air and hugging their families after two months deep underground.
Rescuers, relatives and friends broke into jubilant cheers as father-of-two Florencio Avalos emerged on the surface to breathe his first fresh air in 69 days after a claustrophobic ascent of around 2,050 feet through thick rock.
Hugged and kissed by relatives, the 31-year-old Avalos looked very healthy following a nearly 16-minute journey to safety. He was then embraced by President Sebastian Pinera as the surrounding crowd chanted "Chile! Viva Chile!"
Next up was fellow miner Mario Sepulveda, whose whoops of joy resounded on the surface even before he arrived to the laughs of waiting relatives. He stepped out the capsule with a yellow bag, reached in and pulled out souvenir rocks from below, and slapped one in Pinera's hand.
"I'm so happy!" Sepulveda yelled, grinning, punching his fist in the air and hugging everyone in sight.
Then came Juan Illanes, who called the trip to the surface a "cruise". Each of the men 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.
The miners have spent a record 69 days in the hot, humid bowels of the gold and copper mine in Chile's northern Atacama desert since it caved in on August 5. Rescuers expect to bring all the remaining men to safety over the next two days.
For the first 17 days of their ordeal, the miners were all believed to be dead, and their story of survival and extraordinary rescue operation has captured the world's attention.
After weeks of drilling a narrow shaft down to the miners and preparing the special capsules, the final stage began when a rescuer descended the shaft on Tuesday night. He was hugged by the waiting miners when he reached their tunnel deep in the mine, and he then took just minutes to buckle Avalos into the capsule and send him to the surface.
"This is a miracle from God," said Alberto Avalos, the first rescued miner's elated uncle, who rushed to the capsule as it arrived on the surface shortly after midnight.
The men, who set a new record for the length of time workers have survived underground after a mining accident, have been exercising to keep their weight down for their ascent.
Nervous wives, children, parents and friends waited on an arid, rocky hillside above the San Jose mine waiting for the men to be evacuated in an operation expected to take up to 48 hours.
The specially-made steel cages are equipped with oxygen masks and escape hatches in case they get stuck.
A LONG, AGONIZING WAIT
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See All Comments (8) | Post Comment
Oct 12, 2010 9:23pm EDT
I am watching it live and they sent the capsule down for the first time and it came back up empty. I saw them hammering on the cage and I think it jammed shut so no one could get in. The pully is at an angle so they had to jury rig a pully to keep the cable from rubbing against the casing. When the capsule came up no one though about the fact that the pully would cause a problem and it looked like it wrecked some sort of pad that was placed on top.
phmurphy
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Oct 12, 2010 9:28pm EDT
THE GLOBAL HEART IS TICKING AND WAITING FOR YOU ALL, GUYS!!!
WELCOME BACK TO THE LIGHT!
NEWSTIME2010
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Oct 12, 2010 9:36pm EDT
WELCOME BACK FROM HELL!!!!
no one human being should never get down to that hellhole, ever!
NEWSTIME2010
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Oct 12, 2010 9:44pm EDT
My prayers with all of them.. Told my wife today, we are going to celebrate if all comes back alive..I hope all goes well.
EbeeJohn
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Oct 12, 2010 9:49pm EDT
As reporters are discussing the psychological impact of this ordeal, I thought your readers would be interested to know that the longest underground survival is actually the untold story of 38 Ukranians who silently slid down a muddy hole in the ground to escape the Nazis as they pushed across Southwestern Ukraine.
While the war raged above their heads, five Jewish families survived for 527 days, in two massive cave systems. Their story is the longest ever-recorded uninterrupted underground survival in human history.
Cave explorer, Chris Nicola, uncovered this story in the mid 1990s when he, along with a group of elite Ukrainian cavers, were mapping Ozernaja (or Blue Lakes Cave).
It is the 11th longest and 2nd largest gypsum cave system in the world. Deep inside the cavern, Chris stumbled upon objects left by the survivors —buttons, shoes, a grinding stone, even a house key and spent years trying to figure out if vague rumors were true – that with no gear or training, a group of desperate people had lived in this cave for months on end, and survived.
When he finally did confirm the story’s authenticity, it turned out that more than a dozen survivors were still alive, one of them lived only 15 miles away. You can learn more about their story here: http://bit.ly/9WG3Uq
changents
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Oct 12, 2010 10:23pm EDT
Now they are sending someone down.
phmurphy
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Oct 12, 2010 11:27pm EDT
First one up !
I wanna build a huge sculpture memorial Monument around this hole from a Mining Tax!
627 meter high obelisk with an elevator lift cage up to the top and a reconstruction of the shaft like a museum for everybody to visit and remember.
Waiting now for the next man to get up…
Artist Ture Sjolander Australia.
(no charge)
NEWSTIME2010
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Oct 13, 2010 12:07am EDT
Viva Chile! Fuerza Mineros!
isabo
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