A captive global audience looked on as the first of 33 miners trapped for a record 68 days deep underground emerged yesterday into the cold night air of Chile’s Atacama desert.
People logged on and tuned in to read, watch and listen as Florencio Avalos was extracted safe and sound from 600 metres below ground at 0311 GMT, followed exactly one hour later by co-worker Mario Sepulveda.
Families had all but given up hope of seeing their loved ones again when on August 22 – 17 days after the collapse at the San Jose mine – a note tied to a drill probe announced their sensational survival to the world.
Millions, struggling to comprehend the nightmarish existence of the trapped men and the anguish of their families, have followed the painstaking rescue efforts as a shaft wide enough to extract the miners was drilled.
Wellwishers from around the globe, ranging from fellow miners to exalted heads of state, watched minute-by-minute overnight as a missile-shaped capsule bearing Chile’s national colours was winched into the mine.
A measure of how the epic survival tale has ballooned into a global human interest story, live images from the site were broadcast to viewers in New York, Sydney, London and Tokyo.
The BBC streamed footage of the operation alongside a scrolling sidebar of mini-bites of information emerging from the crowd of relatives and Chilean politicians waiting to receive the miners-turned-national heroes.
Japan’s major television networks also offered live coverage, complete with profiles of the 32 Chileans and one Bolivian, who survived their first 17 days before making contact with rescuers by rationing emergency supplies. Japanese doctors discussed various medical complications the men could suffer, while Australian news stations, websites and radio bulletins devoted non-stop coverage of the rescue.
“It was supposed to be a day off for me, and I was planning to catch up on my reading,” high school English teacher Tetsuro Umeji in Kudamatsu City, Japan, wrote on the BBC live feed.
“But now my eyes are glued to the computer screen as the rescue is broadcast live. Absolutely amazing! Congratulations, Chile! I will keep my fingers crossed until the last of the 33 miners is brought to the surface!”
In Washington, President Barack Obama issued a statement saying he too was following the fate of the 33 men, who have set a new record for surviving underground. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the brave miners, their families, and the men and women who have been working so hard to rescue them,” said a statement issued by the White House in English and Spanish.
“While that rescue is far from over and difficult work remains, we pray that by God’s grace, the miners will be able to emerge safely and return to their families soon.”
Chile’s embassy in Washington DC set up a public live video feed of the rescue operation, which will see the men emerge one-by-one and reunite with relatives before being flown by helicopter to a nearby hospital. In the Spanish-speaking world, the rescue bid dominated the news. Spanish-language station Univision ran live video of the site, while Chile’s La Tercera newspaper website carried a graphic header with empty boxes to be filled in as each miner emerged safe, and two counters tallying “rescued miners” and “miners in hospital.”
The interest appeared to overwhelm authorities managing media at the mine site. They ran out of international media badges and began issuing hand-labelled IDs to reporters arriving from as far afield as China and Turkey.
China’s Xinhua news agency and state television were reporting from the ground, and news portals Sohu and Sina set up special sections on their front pages featuring details on the rescue effort.
Timeline
Key developments since the 33 miners were trapped:
August 5 – Thirty-three miners are trapped underground when part of the San Jose mine in Chile’s Atacama desert collapses.
August 6 – Mining minister Laurence Golborne flies in to lead the rescue mission.
August 7 – A second collapse blocks access to the lower parts of the mine, hampering rescue efforts. President Sebastian Pinera visits the miners’ relatives. Attempts are made to drill holes to the miners, but no contact is made.
August 22 – Rescue workers hear tapping on a drill that has reached a depth of 688 metres. The miners are confirmed to be alive when it is disclosed they have tied a note to a listening probe that reads “all 33 of us are well inside the shelter”. The first video of the miners is recorded and shows them to be in a better condition than feared.
August 23 - Food, water and communication equipment are sent down a hole to the miners.
August 30 - Rescuers decide the best way to free the miners is to drill three shafts and winch them to safety. The holes, named Plan A, Plan B and Plan C, are dug at the same time to try to rescue the men as quickly as possible.
September 26 – The first of three rescue capsules built to lift out the men arrives at the mine.
October 4 – Gifts sent to the miners during their period underground are returned to the surface in advance of their rescue.
October 9 – The miners celebrate as a drilling rig breaks through into their underground chamber. It is decided that only the first 96 metres of the shaft need to be reinforced.
October 11 – A test rescue capsule is successfully sent nearly all the way down to where the miners are trapped. Rescue team co-ordinator Andre Sougarret posts a message on Twitter reading: “Today the miners sleep their last night together!”.
October 12 – Final preparations and test runs are carried out before the rescue mission proper gets under way. Rescuer Manuel Gonzalez is lowered down the shaft and is shown greeting the miners on video footage. Shortly before midnight local time, 31-year-old Florencio Avalos, the miner chosen as the first to be freed, enters the rescue capsule and his journey to the surface begins.
October 13 – Mr Avalos reaches the surface amid scenes of jubilation, wearing sunglasses to protect his eyes. He embraces relatives and rescuers. (PA)