SAN JOSE MINE, Chile – The first six of the 33 miners had been trapped underground for two months ascended to the surface here early Wednesday when a rescue operation that has inspired the nation and the world riveted moved to the final stage.
Osman Araya, 30, hugged his wife Angelica and mining rescue teams before being thanked for medical research.
More than five hours earlier, the first miner, Florencio Avalos, 31, traveled a narrow, nearly half-mile to save as in the specially designed capsule that officials were testing for a large part of Tuesday. Shortly after midnight, horns blared as the capsule reaches the surface in Mr. Avalos. With a look of calm firm, he embraced his family, his country’s president and the workers around him before she left on a stretcher, giving a thumbs-up as he left.
Miners Mario Sepúlveda, 39, Juan Illanes, in his early 50s, Carlos Mamani, 24, and Jimmy Sanchez, 19, followed after.
The rescue had finally begun.
“This is a wonderful start,” said Rodrigo Pedreros, 34, a firefighter looks on mine. “I pray that everything goes well.”
The second miner to the surface, Mr. Sepúlveda, was exuberant as he is to reach the capsule, hugging family members and officials. He hugged Mr. Pinera three times and people presented with gifts: stones from the mine. Then he led the crowd in cheers. “Chi, Chi, Chi, le, le, le,” they cried. “Miners of Chile, later sounded like a chorus miners reached the surface.
Mr Mamani, Bolivian lonely among the group of trapped miners, was greeted by his wife Veronica and Sebastian Pinera Chile’s President and his wife.
Deep in the mine, 27 other miners were waiting for their turn, along with a worker who had descended to their underground shelter in the small capsule, which was painted with red, white and blue of the Chilean flag.
When the doctor finally reached the miners Tuesday night, he was greeted with enthusiastic handshakes from the men.
The day was one of great excitement and last-minute delays. As Mr Pinera was waiting anxiously near the rescue hole, the families of the miners and more than 1,300 journalists gathered around televisions to plasma at Camp Hope, the makeshift tent city that vibrated with a carnival-like atmosphere as the rescue approached to set. At one point, Mr. Pinera mixed with the families and even broke into a song with them.
“The day has finally come,” said Marta MESÍAS, 51, the aunt of a miner, Claudio Yáñez, 34. “We’re going to toast him with champagne, and give him a bit of roast chicken.”
The operation is expected to be one to two days, with Luis Urzúa, 54, the shift leader who organized the miners in the mine life, the last to come up.
The race to save the miners Chile thrust into a spotlight is often sought but rarely experienced. While praised for its economic management and austerity, the nation is often the attention of the world are trained more on human rights violations and natural disasters on uplifting moments.
But the perseverance of the miners, trapped far underground in a lightless, airless space, has transfixed the world with a universal story of human struggle and the enormously complex operation to rescue them.
It has involved countless millions of dollars, experts from NASA and the drilling of experts from a dozen countries. Some here on mine likened the operation to rescue the Apollo 13 space mission, for the emotional distress it has caused and the expectation of a collective sigh of relief at the end.
“We hope that with God’s help this epic will end in a happy way,” Mr. Pinera said the rescue began.
Despite high expectations, officials here warned that the operation is still in a very precarious stage. The rescue hole is barely wider than the capsule that drives one, shuttling men about 2,000 meters to the surface, one at a time. Complicating matters, the hole is not even straight, raising fears that the capsule might stick with the long journey.
The decision of Mr Pinera, Chile’s leading right-wing first 20 years, the game of his young presidency on a relentless push to rescue the miners was an extraordinary political calculation. But it has paid big dividends, strengthening his popularity at home and drives him on an international stage is often dominated by other major personalities in the region.
After a cave in trapped miners on August 5 their fate was uncertain, at best. Advisers to Mr. Pinera advised him not to expectations that they can be found in increasing life. Laurence Golborne, mining minister, said publicly that their chances of surviving small, remarks that many Chileans suffer from.
source:nytimes
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