World Cheers For 33 Miners Freed in Chile

(Oct. 13) -- After more than two months entombed half a mile beneath the Chilean desert, the last of 33 trapped miners has been pulled to safety, ending a dramatic rescue effort that happened quicker than anyone expected, and sparked jubilation around the world.

Shift foreman Luis Urzua, 54, the group's de facto leader, emerged from the escape capsule shortly before 10 p.m. local time and was greeted by an emotional Sebastian Pinera, Chile's president.

"Mission accomplished, now we can all go and have a rest!" Pinera told the crowd gathered at "Camp Hope" above the mine. He praised "Don Luis" as a "good captain" who made his country proud.

"A shift of 70 days, that's a long shift," Urzua joked, hugging rescuers. "We have done what the entire world was waiting for," he said, turning serious. "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."

The president told Urzua: "You are not the same, and the country is not the same after this. You were an inspiration. Go hug your wife and your daughter."

Then, holding their hardhats to cover their hearts, Pinera and Urzua led the assembled crowd in singing Chile's national anthem.

Pinera ceremoniously placed a metal cap over the top of the mine shaft early today, CNN reported, signaling that the disaster has officially come to a close. The whole rescue -- a feat of seamless engineering that was executed without a hitch -- was completed in less than 24 hours. At one point, engineers thought the miners would have to remain underground through Christmas.

"The whole world watched the scene at Camp Esperanza as the first miner was lifted out from under more than 2,000 feet of rock and then embraced by his young son and family," President Barack Obama said Wednesday at the White House. "And the tears they shed after so much time apart expressed not only their own relief, not only their own joy, but the joy of people everywhere. It was a thrilling moment."

News media in China, where more than 1,500 die in mining accidents each year, celebrated the good news out of Chile. The Xinhua news agency called the rescue "a miracle," and People's Daily made note of the fact that a special crane used in the operation was made in China, The New York Times reported.

Late Tuesday night, Florencio Avalos, 31, was the first miner to be rescued. His sobbing 7-year-old son, Bairon, threw his arms around him in one of the many iconic images of celebrations of the miners' perseverance, which quickly became a national symbol for Chile and a global media obsession.

"I told Florencio that few times have I ever seen a son show so much love for his father," Pinera said, according to The Associated Press.

The miners were hauled up one-by-one in a 28-inch-wide escape capsule painted with Chile's red, white and blue colors, and named for the Phoenix, the mythical bird that rises from ashes. Horns blared across the Atacama desert when the first miner surfaced, and cheers of "Chi! Chi! Chi! Le! Le! Le!" followed with each subsequent rescue. Each was given a few minutes to hug relatives before being whisked away on a stretcher for medical evaluation.

Some have severe dental infections, and others have eye problems from living amid the mine's dirt and darkness, the BBC reported. One unidentified miner has been diagnosed with pneumonia, but his condition is not thought to be serious, it said.

Chile's health minister, Jaime Manalich, told the AP that many of the miners will be able to leave the hospital later today -- also earlier than planned.

The second man rescued was Mario Sepulveda, who survived with his physical strength -- and sense of humor -- intact. He jumped up and down, pumped his arms and led a crowd of onlookers in a chant for Chile. Then while being hauled away on a stretcher, he asked his wife, "How's the dog?" and handed out rocks as joke souvenirs to his rescuers.

The Chilean newspaper Las Ultimas Noticias splashed his picture on its front page under the headline "Super Mario."

Speaking to reporters, he turned serious: "I've been near God but I've also been near the devil," Sepulveda said, according to The Daily Telegraph. "They fought but God won."


The penultimate miner to be raised to the surface was Ariel Ticona, 29. He was trapped underground when his baby daughter was born on Sept. 14, but was able to watch the big event on video. The girl was named Esperanza, or "Hope."

Yonni Barrios, 50, who became the focus of international attention when it was discovered that he had both a wife and a mistress, was the 21st miner freed. Barrios had asked both women to be on hand to greet him, but his wife refused. The mistress, Susana Valenzuela, welcomed him with a heartfelt embrace.

Urzua, the shift foreman, has been credited with keeping the men sane in those first harrowing days after 700,000 tons of rock collapsed their copper mine on Aug. 5. They made 48 hours worth of food rations last 17 long days, when they had no contact with the outside world and had no idea about efforts to reach them. Rescuers finally managed to bore a narrow hole down into their chamber and funnel down more food and supplies.

For nearly two months that tube became the miners' lifeline, through which they received supplies and sent up love letters to their wives and girlfriends. A video link was even set up to allow them to watch live soccer matches.

The 33 Chilean miners are believed to have survived longer underground than anyone ever before.

President Pinera, speaking from Camp Hope after the last miner was brought up, praised the hard work, determination and careful planning that had gone into the rescue.

"We faced up to this rescue united as a country," he declared. "We did it the Chilean way, which means the right way."