Rescuers work with determined efficiency to pull the 33 men who have been trapped for two months to the surface.
Reporting from Copiapo, Chile —
Chilean rescuers pressed on Wednesday afternoon with the operation to free 33 men trapped half a mile below the earth's surface for more than two months.
Rescuers freed the 19th miner in the afternoon amid rejoicing in the camp in Chile's northern Atacama desert, where hundreds of international media held vigil as the overnight operation continued into the day.
During his time trapped underground, the 18th miner rescued, Esteban Rojas, 44, had asked his wife of 25 years to renew their vows. Rojas reportedly had gone to work at the mine the day of the collapse, Aug. 5, to make up a day he missed to attend a relative's funeral. He recently promised his wife a formal marriage ceremony after his rescue.
"We have lived a magical night, a night we will remember throughout our lives, a night in which life defeated death," declared Chilean President Sebastian Piñera, who welcomed the miners as they emerged from the rescue pod one at a time.
Piñera was joined at the site by Bolivian President Evo Morales, who arrived to greet the only foreigner trapped in the collapsed mine, a Bolivian named Carlos Mamani.
The rescued miner, reclining in a makeshift clinic set up at the site, told the presidents he felt fine after being lifted to safety in the rescue capsule. Morales, who called the rescue operation "incredible but true," said Mamani would be guaranteed a job and benefits back home.
"This is a historic moment," Morales said.
Miners appeared in remarkably good condition as they emerged, one by one, to hearty cheers from rescue workers and hugs and kisses from tearful loved ones. Most waved or gave a thumbs-up to the crowd. By morning, the procedure was starting to look routine.
One miner, Mario Sepulveda, the second to be lifted out, all but jumped for joy as he shouted and pumped his fist in triumph.
"I never doubted. I always knew God would rescue us," Sepulveda said in a television interview.
"I am so very happy," added the miner, who was surrounded by family members holding his hands or touching him, as if to be sure he was really there. "I'm 40 years old and will live many years more now to honor those who helped" in the rescue.
Foreman Florencio Avalos, 31, was the first of the miners to ride up the shaft. Wearing sunglasses to protect his eyes from aboveground lights, Avalos squeezed into a specially fitted, bullet-shaped capsule only a shade smaller than the 28-inch diameter of the tunnel and was winched to the surface over 14 agonizing minutes.
He stepped from the capsule to an explosion of cheers and patriotic chanting from rescue workers and Chilean officials, his emergence broadcast by state TV to a worldwide audience witnessing a triumph of human determination over geology.
Amid whistles, raw shouts and tears, Avalos hugged his wife, Monica, his sobbing 7-year-old son, Bairon, and the President Piñera.
His appearance signaled the start of the final, still-perilous chapter in a 69-day-old drama that began Aug. 5 when an underground collapse at the mine sealed off exits for the men. The miners' location and fate were unknown for 17 days, until a drill probing for air pockets poked through into a lunchroom where the men were waiting.
Since then, the original despair above and below ground gave way to rejoicing at the discovery, followed by anxiety as drills punched through rock to create a path for the rescue. Patience was further strained by technical delays on the final day, as crews hooked up communications gear and ran more tests on the integrity of the shaft.
But any frustration surrendered to elation when Manuel Gonzalez, a technician, descended and joined the men. Video from thousands of feet underground showed extraordinary scenes of the miners greeting a visitor from the surface.
Gonzalez's arrival was proof that the trip could be made, but the drama still has time to run.
Rescue workers drafted a pecking order for the men's ascent and said they hoped to bring them out at a rate of about one an hour, a pace that would have everyone to safety in two days.
But they also cautioned against premature celebration, noting that only the top of the shaft had been lined with metal tubing and that each trip required the capsule to negotiate bends in the crude tunnel.
Piñera had arrived at the mine Tuesday afternoon to watch the rescue efforts and greet the miners.
"We made a promise to never surrender and we kept it," the president said.
As relatives huddled around television sets or bonfires waiting for details about when their loved ones were to be hoisted up aboard the rescue capsule, they said they were allowing themselves to feel an enormous sense of relief.
Juan Alcalipe, whose son-in-law, Osma Araya, 30, was among the trapped miners, said he was excited to be so close to the end of a nightmare. Araya, he said, won't be returning to work at the mine.
"My daughter won't let him," Alcalipe said.
After Avalos was ushered to a nearby makeshift clinic for a checkup, shower and change of clothes, another rescuer, Roberto Rios, climbed into the capsule and dropped into the shaft, which was emitting plumes of steam from the sauna-like chamber below.
Ana Maria Sepulveda, sister of Mario Sepulveda, the miner rescued an hour later, said, "The day we have waited for so long has finally arrived."
Rather than appearing feeble after his long imprisonment, Sepulveda erupted from the rescue capsule as if he had scored a winning goal in the World Cup. First he hugged his wife, Elvira, then he hugged Piñera three times, then he hugged anyone within reach before leading a crowd of onlookers in a victory chant of "Long live Chile!" The ebullient miner also presented the president with a rock signed by all his comrades.
Juan Illanes, 52, was somewhat more subdued when he reached the top. The third man to be pulled from the ground hugged his wife, then climbed into a cot to be wheeled away.
The lone Bolivian among the miners, Carlos Mamani, was the next man lifted to safety. He greeted his wife, Veronica, with a kiss that knocked off her white hard hat. He then gestured to a Chilean flag on his T-shirt and shouted, "Gracias, Chile!"
As the night wore on and all eyes remained on the spinning wheel that lowered and raised the rescue capsule, the operation appeared to be running smoothly.
Near the rescue site were four red-and-white portable structures that served as the clinic where, for the first two hours above ground, the miners received first aid if needed.
Farther up a steep incline, past enormous cranes and other equipment used in the effort, were half a dozen container-like structures where miners were reunited with their families.
While in the metal capsule, the men wear an oxygen mask, compression socks to prevent blood clots and a belt that continually measures pulse, temperature and respiration. There is two-way communication inside, and a small video camera focuses on the miner's face.
In the event of signs of panic — the biggest concern of rescuers — the extraction will be speeded up.
The miners are not sedated because they need to be alert in case something goes wrong. But a miner could become claustrophobic and do something that damages the capsule. Or the cable could get hung up. Or the rig that pulls the cable could overheat.
As each miner nears the surface, authorities said, a " Genesis alarm" was to sound — a wailing siren and flashing light — for a full minute to alert doctors.
"We are really working as fast as possible to get these miners out," said Mining Minister Laurence Golborne at a televised news conference Tuesday.
Near the site, relatives held vigil at an area that had become known as Camp Hope.
"Here the tension is higher than down below," Veronica Ticona, the sister of one of the miners, told the Associated Press. "Down there, they are calm."
Officials said that after the miners left the clinic, they would be evacuated by helicopter or ambulance to the hospital in Copiapo for two days of observation.
The 40-mile road leading from the city to the mine closed at 8 p.m. to make room for a ground evacuation if the skies were too overcast for helicopters. Air force officials said the chopper pilots had night-vision equipment, but Pacific Ocean fog at night often shuts down flying.
The rescue effort is risky simply because no one else has ever tried to extract miners from such depths, Davitt McAteer, a former U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration director, told the Associated Press.
"You can be good and you can be lucky. And they've been good and lucky," McAteer said. "Knock on wood that this luck holds out for the next 33 hours."
Kraul is a special correspondent.
Times wire services contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2010, Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationw...e-miner-rescues-20101014,0,6744516,full.story
Reporting from Copiapo, Chile —
Chilean rescuers pressed on Wednesday afternoon with the operation to free 33 men trapped half a mile below the earth's surface for more than two months.
Rescuers freed the 19th miner in the afternoon amid rejoicing in the camp in Chile's northern Atacama desert, where hundreds of international media held vigil as the overnight operation continued into the day.
During his time trapped underground, the 18th miner rescued, Esteban Rojas, 44, had asked his wife of 25 years to renew their vows. Rojas reportedly had gone to work at the mine the day of the collapse, Aug. 5, to make up a day he missed to attend a relative's funeral. He recently promised his wife a formal marriage ceremony after his rescue.
"We have lived a magical night, a night we will remember throughout our lives, a night in which life defeated death," declared Chilean President Sebastian Piñera, who welcomed the miners as they emerged from the rescue pod one at a time.
Piñera was joined at the site by Bolivian President Evo Morales, who arrived to greet the only foreigner trapped in the collapsed mine, a Bolivian named Carlos Mamani.
The rescued miner, reclining in a makeshift clinic set up at the site, told the presidents he felt fine after being lifted to safety in the rescue capsule. Morales, who called the rescue operation "incredible but true," said Mamani would be guaranteed a job and benefits back home.
"This is a historic moment," Morales said.
Miners appeared in remarkably good condition as they emerged, one by one, to hearty cheers from rescue workers and hugs and kisses from tearful loved ones. Most waved or gave a thumbs-up to the crowd. By morning, the procedure was starting to look routine.
One miner, Mario Sepulveda, the second to be lifted out, all but jumped for joy as he shouted and pumped his fist in triumph.
"I never doubted. I always knew God would rescue us," Sepulveda said in a television interview.
"I am so very happy," added the miner, who was surrounded by family members holding his hands or touching him, as if to be sure he was really there. "I'm 40 years old and will live many years more now to honor those who helped" in the rescue.
Foreman Florencio Avalos, 31, was the first of the miners to ride up the shaft. Wearing sunglasses to protect his eyes from aboveground lights, Avalos squeezed into a specially fitted, bullet-shaped capsule only a shade smaller than the 28-inch diameter of the tunnel and was winched to the surface over 14 agonizing minutes.
He stepped from the capsule to an explosion of cheers and patriotic chanting from rescue workers and Chilean officials, his emergence broadcast by state TV to a worldwide audience witnessing a triumph of human determination over geology.
Amid whistles, raw shouts and tears, Avalos hugged his wife, Monica, his sobbing 7-year-old son, Bairon, and the President Piñera.
His appearance signaled the start of the final, still-perilous chapter in a 69-day-old drama that began Aug. 5 when an underground collapse at the mine sealed off exits for the men. The miners' location and fate were unknown for 17 days, until a drill probing for air pockets poked through into a lunchroom where the men were waiting.
Since then, the original despair above and below ground gave way to rejoicing at the discovery, followed by anxiety as drills punched through rock to create a path for the rescue. Patience was further strained by technical delays on the final day, as crews hooked up communications gear and ran more tests on the integrity of the shaft.
But any frustration surrendered to elation when Manuel Gonzalez, a technician, descended and joined the men. Video from thousands of feet underground showed extraordinary scenes of the miners greeting a visitor from the surface.
Gonzalez's arrival was proof that the trip could be made, but the drama still has time to run.
Rescue workers drafted a pecking order for the men's ascent and said they hoped to bring them out at a rate of about one an hour, a pace that would have everyone to safety in two days.
But they also cautioned against premature celebration, noting that only the top of the shaft had been lined with metal tubing and that each trip required the capsule to negotiate bends in the crude tunnel.
Piñera had arrived at the mine Tuesday afternoon to watch the rescue efforts and greet the miners.
"We made a promise to never surrender and we kept it," the president said.
As relatives huddled around television sets or bonfires waiting for details about when their loved ones were to be hoisted up aboard the rescue capsule, they said they were allowing themselves to feel an enormous sense of relief.
Juan Alcalipe, whose son-in-law, Osma Araya, 30, was among the trapped miners, said he was excited to be so close to the end of a nightmare. Araya, he said, won't be returning to work at the mine.
"My daughter won't let him," Alcalipe said.
After Avalos was ushered to a nearby makeshift clinic for a checkup, shower and change of clothes, another rescuer, Roberto Rios, climbed into the capsule and dropped into the shaft, which was emitting plumes of steam from the sauna-like chamber below.
Ana Maria Sepulveda, sister of Mario Sepulveda, the miner rescued an hour later, said, "The day we have waited for so long has finally arrived."
Rather than appearing feeble after his long imprisonment, Sepulveda erupted from the rescue capsule as if he had scored a winning goal in the World Cup. First he hugged his wife, Elvira, then he hugged Piñera three times, then he hugged anyone within reach before leading a crowd of onlookers in a victory chant of "Long live Chile!" The ebullient miner also presented the president with a rock signed by all his comrades.
Juan Illanes, 52, was somewhat more subdued when he reached the top. The third man to be pulled from the ground hugged his wife, then climbed into a cot to be wheeled away.
The lone Bolivian among the miners, Carlos Mamani, was the next man lifted to safety. He greeted his wife, Veronica, with a kiss that knocked off her white hard hat. He then gestured to a Chilean flag on his T-shirt and shouted, "Gracias, Chile!"
As the night wore on and all eyes remained on the spinning wheel that lowered and raised the rescue capsule, the operation appeared to be running smoothly.
Near the rescue site were four red-and-white portable structures that served as the clinic where, for the first two hours above ground, the miners received first aid if needed.
Farther up a steep incline, past enormous cranes and other equipment used in the effort, were half a dozen container-like structures where miners were reunited with their families.
While in the metal capsule, the men wear an oxygen mask, compression socks to prevent blood clots and a belt that continually measures pulse, temperature and respiration. There is two-way communication inside, and a small video camera focuses on the miner's face.
In the event of signs of panic — the biggest concern of rescuers — the extraction will be speeded up.
The miners are not sedated because they need to be alert in case something goes wrong. But a miner could become claustrophobic and do something that damages the capsule. Or the cable could get hung up. Or the rig that pulls the cable could overheat.
As each miner nears the surface, authorities said, a " Genesis alarm" was to sound — a wailing siren and flashing light — for a full minute to alert doctors.
"We are really working as fast as possible to get these miners out," said Mining Minister Laurence Golborne at a televised news conference Tuesday.
Near the site, relatives held vigil at an area that had become known as Camp Hope.
"Here the tension is higher than down below," Veronica Ticona, the sister of one of the miners, told the Associated Press. "Down there, they are calm."
Officials said that after the miners left the clinic, they would be evacuated by helicopter or ambulance to the hospital in Copiapo for two days of observation.
The 40-mile road leading from the city to the mine closed at 8 p.m. to make room for a ground evacuation if the skies were too overcast for helicopters. Air force officials said the chopper pilots had night-vision equipment, but Pacific Ocean fog at night often shuts down flying.
The rescue effort is risky simply because no one else has ever tried to extract miners from such depths, Davitt McAteer, a former U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration director, told the Associated Press.
"You can be good and you can be lucky. And they've been good and lucky," McAteer said. "Knock on wood that this luck holds out for the next 33 hours."
Kraul is a special correspondent.
Times wire services contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2010, Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationw...e-miner-rescues-20101014,0,6744516,full.story
