The Saga of the Chilean Miners

San Jose Copper-Gold Mine (Wikipedia)

On August 5, 2010 the San Jose copper-gold mine, located 28 miles north of Copiapo, Chile collapsed trapping 33 miners at approximately 2,300 ft below ground. The saga begins...

Empresa Minera San Esteban, who owns the mine, has a poor safety record with 42 fines for breaching safety record between 2004 and 2010. The San Jose mine was shut down in 2007 due to an accident but was reopen in 2008.  Then it happen, on August 5th at 2:00pm CLT, the mine collapsed.

The Note (AP)

Rescue efforts were underway on August 6 from different government agencies while the 33 trapped miners sat in isolation for 17 days. The rescuers tried to use the ventilation shaft but a second collapsed occurred on August 7. Fear of another collapsed, the rescuers decided to find other means of rescuing the trapped miners. The rescuers started using percussion drills to make numerous boreholes in an effort to find the trapped miners. They succeeded in finding the miners on August 22 and were surprised that the miners were all alive. They sent up a note that read "Estamos bien en el refugio los 33" ("The 33 of us in the shelter are well").

Fenix 2 capsule (CNN)

As rescuers drill the escape boreholes, the trapped miners kept themselves in an upbeat mood with food, oxygen and daily chats with their family members. Initial estimates that the miners will be trapped until at least December but the drill reach the miners on October 9, two months ahead of schedule. Jaime Manalich, Chile's Health Minister announced the mine rescue would commence on October 12.


On October 12 at 7:00pm Chilean time, the rescue effort started with the lowering of the first rescue worker Manuel Gonzalez into the mine to greet and prepare the miners for their ascend. Each miner have to wear a special track-suit and special sunglasses to prevent blindness. The Fenix 2 capsule is equipped with oxygen masks, heart monitor and video cameras. The order of which the miners are going to be extracted was made by officials with Florencio Avalos, the spokesman of the group, being the first to be rescued and Luis Urzua, the shift foreman, be the last.

The order of rescue is as follows:

33 Miners

1) Florencio Avalos, 31;
2) Mario Sepulveda, 40;
3) Juan Illanes, 52;
4) Carlos Mamani, 23;
5) Jimmy Sanchez, 19;
6) Osman Araya, 30;
7) Jose Ojeda;
8) Claudio Yanez, 34;
9) Mario Gómez, 63;
10) Alex Vega, 31;

Mario Gomez, the oldest miner
(HUGO INFANTE/GOVERNMENT OF CHILE)

11) Jorge Galleguillos, 56;
12) Edison Pena, 34;
13) Carlos Barrios, 27;
14) Victor Zamora, 33;
15) Victor Segovia, 48;
16) Daniel Herrera, 27;
17) Omar Reygadas, 56;
18) Esteban Rojas, 44;
19) Pablo Rojas, 45;
20) Dario Segovia, 48;
21) Yonni Barrios, 50;
22) Samuel Avalos, 43;
 23) Carlos Bugueno, 27;
24) Jose Henriquez, 54;
25) Renan Avalos, 29;
26) Claudio Acuna;
27) Franklin Lobos, 53;
28) Richard Villarroel, 27;
29) Juan Carlos Aguilar, 49;
30) Raúl Bustos, 40;
31) Pedro Cortez, 25;
32) Ariel Ticona, 29;
33) Luis Urzua, 54

After 89 days, the first miner, Florencio Avalos was rescued at 12:10 am CLDT. As of this writing (7:31pm EST), Raul Bustos, the 30th miner was being hoisted up.

The rescued miners all look healthly and happy...

Update: 10/13 at 7:49pm
31st miner is being hoisted up.. 2 more miners left plus 5 6 rescuers - Manuel Gonzalez, Roberto Rios, Patricio Robledo, Jorge Bustamante, Patricio Sepulveda and Pedro Gomez. 32 of the trapped miners are Chilean, Carlos Mamani, the 4th miner to be rescued is Bolivian.

Luis Urzua (courtesy of CNN)

Update: 10/13 at 8:55pm EST

Capsule carrying Luis Urzua, the 33rd and last trapped miner has reached the surface. All 33 trapped miners are free and are in good healthy condition. The rescue effort took only 23 hours. Its over!!! Time for the 6 rescuers to go back to the surface



"We Hope Never Again" - Luis Urzua
"You are an inspiration" - Chilean President Pinera to Luis Urzua, the last of the 33 trapped miners to be rescued.
"Mision Cumplida CHILE" written by the 6 rescue workers on a piece of cloth in the mine while waiting for their ride back to the surface
"Tonight, we have experience a night we will never forget" - Chilean President Sebastian Pinera

Chilean President Pinera and Luis Urzua leading the rescue workers in singing Chile's National Anthem

At 12:32 AM Chilean Time (11:32 PM EST) - Manuel Gonzalez, the first rescue worker that descended into the mine is the last person to ride the Fenix 2 capsule out of the collapsed mine. This truly marks the end of the rescue efforts that just started 25 hours ago. Chilean President Sebastian Pinera has place a cover on top of the hole signalling the end of the rescue mission.

"It's been a long journey" - Chilean President Sebastian Pinera.


That's it.. Mission Accomplished. Chile has shown the world that nothing is impossible. I just hope the owners of the mine will suffer the consequence even though the owners declared bankruptcy after the mine collapsed.

Luis Urzua - AP/Roberto Candia

Coverage: CNN | Yahoo News | ABC News

"What started as a tragedy is ending as a real blessing," Chilean President Sebastian Pinera told ABC News' Diane Sawyer. "I think that the miners have given us an example of unity, of teamwork, of faith. Their families, they never lost faith."