Flawless Escape: All Chilean Miners Raised Safely in Miracle Rescue
Oct. 14, 2010— -- Rescuers in Chile have pulled off what has never been done before. They have safely extracted all 33 men trapped for 70 days inside the San Jose mine -- the longest miners have ever been underground and lived to tell about it.
Now the men are resting, recovering, rejoicing in a specially outfitted ward at the Copiapo Hospital. Soon they'll step into a world where they will be sought-after celebrities, but also dealing with the physical and psychological aftermath of their captivity.
One by one, all 33 Chilean miners were raised safely to freedom Wednesday.
The miners survived being trapped underground for 10 weeks -- by far the longest time ever before a successful rescue. They were able to survive because of their location in an uncollapsed part of the gold and copper mine, where rescuers were able to bore a hole large enough to send down food and supplies.
Today, they are heroes to a very proud nation.
"Thank you to everyone, said miner Luis Urzua, in Spanish. "I feel proud to be Chilean."
Urzua was the last miner to emerge from the rescue capsule, exiting at around 9:57 p.m. local time.
He served as the shift foreman before the mine collapsed on Aug. 5 and continued to lead his crew after the catastrophe.
"We have done what the entire world was waiting for," Urzua told Chilean President Sebastian Pinera after his rescue, according to an Associated Press translation. "The 70 days that we fought so hard were not in vain. We had strength, we had spirit, we wanted to fight, we wanted to fight for our families, and that was the greatest thing."
Urzua's leadership and discipline is credited with helping to preserve the men's lives.
President Pinera praised Urzua's actions. "You were the last one out like a good captain," he said in Spanish.
The president, with Urzua beside him, then led the crowd in singing the national anthem.
After Urzua, only members of the rescue crew remained below in the mine.
By 11:30 p.m. ET, the last rescuer was hoisted back to surface -- ending the more than two-month ordeal for both the miners and their families.
The first miner surfaced shortly after midnight local time Wednesday, and the painstaking extractions continued overnight and throughout the day.
The well-oiled operation picked up speed as it went on, with miners eventually surfacing from the 28-inch-diameter hole nearly every half hour.
For the first two to three hours of the operation, officials ran tests of the steel Phoenix rescue capsule, including runs up and down the rescue shaft with the capsule empty or containing rescue workers or equipment.
"It was a miracle, because on the first day the odds were against us," Pinera said. "At the end of the day, the miners were in the hands of God."
For a video slideshow of the dramatic rescue efforts, click here. The videos show each mine worker at the moment they leave the capsule and embrace their loved ones.
