THE FIRST of 33 Chilean miners trapped underground for the last 70 days were brought to the surface in the early hours of yesterday, marking the beginning of the end of the longest mining rescue operation in history.
All the miners were expected to have been rescued successfully by early this morning as the mammoth operation ran ahead of schedule.Watched by millions of people around the world, the rescue was played out on television minute by minute.
It was at 10 minutes past midnight local time – 4:10am in Ireland – that 31-year-old Florencio Ávalos emerged in a steel cage from a narrow shaft after being winched 622m to the surface from the cavern he and 32 colleagues took shelter in following a collapse on August 5th in the San José gold and copper mine.
There he was embraced by his tearful seven-year-old son Byron and his wife before being congratulated by rescuers and by Chile’s president Sebastián Piñera.
Despite his 10-week ordeal Mr Ávalos looked alert and in good health. Rescuers had placed sunglasses on him to protect eyes which had grown accustomed to dim light while underground.
He was quickly put on a trolley and rushed off to a medical centre set up at the mine where doctors carried out an initial examination. He was then taken by helicopter to the nearby town of Copiapó, where he is undergoing further tests before an expected discharge tomorrow.
Speaking shortly afterwards, an exuberant Mr Piñera said “the embrace between Florencio, his wife and his son Byron will remain in the hearts of Chileans forever”.
Mr Ávalos and his colleagues had been trapped underground for longer than any other group following a mining accident.
Relatives of the trapped men waiting for this moment at the nearby Camp Hope cried and prayed as Mr Ávalos emerged from the ground.
Across Chile crowds had gathered to watch the rescue and a chorus of car horns and fireworks commemorated its success.
An hour after Mr Ávalos emerged, a euphoric Mario Sepúlveda became the second miner to reach the surface. He quickly opened a bag he had brought with him and, cracking jokes, presented rocks from the bottom of the mine to rescuers before leading them in a chant of “Viva Chile!” He was still waving as medics wheeled him away for his check-up.
The night’s operation started with rescuer Manuel González going down the shaft to the trapped miners just before midnight. Fourteen minutes later video images relayed by the men underground showed Mr González arriving and the trapped miners having their first contact with the outside world since early August.
Following the August 5th collapse that left them trapped the miners had to wait 17 days before rescue crews on the surface were able to make contact with them.
This initial contact was made after drilling a narrow hole using a drill head made by Co Clare company Mincon.