Camp Hope, the tent city at the Chile mine where a rescue drama was unfolding, lived up to its name yesterday, as relatives refused to abandon the site until the last miner was free.

The families of the 33 miners being winched out of their 10-week-long nightmare said all of them – even those who had already seen their prayers answered – wanted to stay put until everyone was safe above ground.

It was a show of faith, and a sign of the unity that has flourished between the families and is as strong as that experienced by the miners trapped below ground.

“The first to come out weren’t part of our family, but even so it was deeply moving. It may be that we all will stay here from the first to the last,” said Javier Galleguillos, brother of the 11th miner pulled to safety, Jorge Galleguillos.

The Galleguillos family shared their wait for Jorge with the clan of two miners who followed soon after, those of Carlos Barrios and Victor Zamora.

Cheers and applause greeted each rescue, though tension that ran under the first few extractions faded as confidence grew that everything would turn out well for all the men.

“It’s reassuring to see everything working well,” Javier Galleguillos said.

Edwin Mitamita had already seen his friend, Bolivian miner Carlos Mamani, saved. But he too, said he intended to stay to the last.

“I’m remaining here until the last one comes up,” he said.

Although more than two-thirds of the 33 miners had been rescued by yesterday evening, not one tent in Camp Hope had been dismantled.

One tent, that of the family of the first miner to be rescued, Florencio Avalos, was missing, however.

It had been toppled and trampled early yesterday when hundreds of journalists crowded into it to try to get an interview with the frightened relatives.

But the Avalos family were sticking around. They were waiting for their other son, Renan, who had been working with Florencio and who was still among the miners to be brought up.

“I’m going to the hospital to speak with him (Florencio), but afterwards I’ll be back. We’re going to stay until the last,” the father, Alfonso Avalos, said.

“Between the families, and other people here, there are good relations. They have become good friends,” he said.

The common purpose and shared travails of the families started after the August 5 collapse of the mine in Chile’s northern Atacama desert.

Although officials believed the miners had probably perished, the families did not give up hope, prompting both the probe drill that eventually found the men alive 17 days later, and the name of their camp where the relatives set up vigil.

“It’s a very strong, very special relationship with people who we didn’t know before. That’s going to tough to give up, but each one has to resume their lives, even if I think we’ll all stay in contact,” said Rossana Gomez, daughter of the oldest miner, Mario Gomez, 63, who was among the rescued.

Mr Gomez emerged from the mine and fell to his knees in prayer. “I’ve changed, I’m a different man,” he said.

The last one expected to be rescued from the mine later Wednesday was 54-year-old shift supervisor Luis Urzua.

“The 33” as the miners have dubbed themselves had formed a close-knit band during their long ordeal, and have said they want to stay in close contact.