The ascent of the last of the miners, grizzled leader Luis Urzua, capped nearly 22 hours of euphoric scenes happening every 30 minutes or so, when each of the trapped men was winched individually to the surface through a narrow escape shaft.
It also spelled the end of a record ordeal lived by the men, who had survived 10 nightmarish weeks in a dank and dark tunnel 622 meters (2,041 feet) below the surface of Chile's northern Atacama desert following an August 5 cave-in.
"They were experiencing a kind of rebirth," President Sebastian Pinera said in a televised address to the nation from the San Jose gold and copper mine after all the miners were freed. The rescue operation, he affirmed, was "inspiring... for the whole world." Pinera hailed Urzua for doing his duty and seeing off all his men before "leaving last like a ship's captain."
The two men, grateful miner and smiling president, led a rendition of Chile's national anthem that was echoed across the country.
Updated from print edition (below)
25 miners lifted to safety as operation continues
Pumping fists, or falling to their knees in prayer, 25 of the 33 miners trapped below ground in Chile savoured their first taste of freedom, rising from the depths to heroes’ welcome.
“I have been with God and with the devil,” said the second miner to be saved, Mario Sepulveda, 40, summing up his ordeal and miraculous salvation. “I seized the hand of God, it was the best hand. I always knew God would get us out of there.”
“I have changed, I am a different man,” said Mario Gomez, the ninth to be rescued and, at 63, the oldest of the group.
By early afternoon, 17 miners had been winched up through an escape shaft drilled down in to the bowels of a mountain in the Atacama Desert where the miners had been trapped by a cave-in on August 5.
Words of congratulation poured in from US President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, as well as Pope Benedict XVI and other dignitaries.
At the San Jose gold and copper mine in northern Chile, cheers and tears of joy greeted the arrival of each of the miners brought 2,041 feet to the surface in a narrow, missile-shaped rescue capsule. The contraption, painted in the red-white-and-blue of Chile’s flag, was dubbed the Phoenix, to symbolise the men’s rebirth.
The first out of the mine was 31-year-old Florencio Avalos, who breathed in his first lungful of fresh air before hugging his seven-year-old son and wife Monica, then Chilean President Sebastian Pinera and other officials.
Sepulveda, the second rescued, quickly became a media darling for his energetic appearance that earned him the nickname “Super Mario”. He produced rocks from the bottom of the mine as gifts to laughing officials and relatives before leading them in a celebratory football song.
Gomez, who stepped out wearing a breathing mask to combat chronic breathing difficulties, said he had been through a life-changing experience. “Often something has to happen to you before you stop and think and understand that you only have one life,” he told Pinera, whom he thanked profusely.
Others following included the only non-Chilean in the group, Bolivian miner Carlos Mamani, 23, who was greeted by Bolivian President Evo Morales. “Welcome to life,” Pinera told Jorge Galleguillos, 56, who was the eleventh man hoisted to safety. “Thank you for believing that we were alive,” Galleguillos replied.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 14th, 2010.
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