Lesson 5 The Amazing Story of the 33

Alone in the Dark The miners were lucky to have an air tunnel that

On October 13, 2010, thirty three Chilean miners who allowed enough fresh air to reach them. They also

had been buried inside the San Jose mine 69 days had broken trucks from which they could charge the

were finally rescued. It was a triumph of engineering batteries of their head lamps. In addition, they were

and a victory of faith. The miners locked in below able to drink water from storage tanks nearby. Until

did not give up in the dark, nor did their families the tunnel to deliver food and medicine was

above ground surrender to despair. operational, food was the most critical issue in the

shelter. They only had enough food for two days. For

On August 5, 2010, at around lunch break, miners eighteen days, each person had to live on two

digging for copper and gold started to feel spoonfuls of tuna, a mouthful of milk, bits of

vibrations in the earth. Almost immediately after the crackers, and a bite of canned fruit every other day.

vibrations began, they heard a sudden huge Another factor which bothered the miners severely

explosion, and the whole mine filled up with dust was the high heat and humidity of the shelter. Each

and rock. A massive piece of the nearby mountain miner had lost an average of 8 kilograms by the

had broken off, burying almost all the layers of the time they were rescued.

mine.

The miners united as a group soon after the

For seventeen days after the initial collapse, there collapse. They organized themselves into a society

was no word on their fate. As the days passed, where each person had one vote. They all knew that

Chileans grew increasingly uncertain that any of the if their social structure broke down, their problems

miners had survived. A small exploratory hole was would become more serious and did what they could

drilled on August 22, and the camera captured a do best. For example, Jose Henriquez, a religious

message that said, "We are still alive." It was the first man, tried to keep morale up, and Yonni Barrios,

sign of hope. Soon, a video camera was sent down who had had some medical training, helped other

700 meters deep and capture the first images of the miners with their health problems.

miners, all clearly in good health. The discovery

sparked joyful celebrations nationwide, and rescue

efforts gave a light of hope that the miners could be

saved.
On October 9, a rescue hole was finally drilled
through to the miners in their shelter. It created a
tunnel large enough to lift them one by one. For
this purpose, a specially designed capsule was built.
More than 1,400 news reporters from all over the
world, together with the family members of the
miners, gathered to watch the rescue process.
On October 12, the first rescue worker was sent
downward to the miners, who greeted him with
nervous relief. Soon, the first trapped miner was
raised to the surface. One by one, the miners were
brought up in the capsule to see the sunlight. Upon
leaving the capsule, each miner was enthusiastically
greeted, but they could not see their families right
away. They had been trapped for so long that their
first priority was to get medical attention.
Luis Urzua, who had taken a major role as a
democratic leader while underground, was the last
one to come up to the surface on October 13. "The
69 days during which we tried so hard were not
useless. We wanted to live for our families, and that
was the greatest thing," Urzua said to the Chilean
people after his rescue. Then, the rescuers and the
rescued began singing the Chilean national anthem
with the thousands of joyous people who came to
support the operation, celebrating the heroics and
the humanity of all those involved.
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A Capsule of Light
The rescue capsule Fenix was designed by the
Chilean Navy in collaboration with NASA to rescue
the 33 miners trapped underground in Chile’s San
Jose copper mine. Painted in the red, white, and blue
colors of Chile, the Fenix looked like a military
missile. The device was nearly 3.95 meters high on
the outside, and the inside was 1.9 meters high and
about 51 centimeters across, which was just enough
room for an adult male.
When mobilized by the rescue team, the Fenix was
equipped with an emergency oxygen supply. The
bottom of the capsule held three tanks of air, which
would provide enough air for one person to breathe
for about 90 minutes. This amount of air was more
than needed for the 15 to 20 minutes that the trip
to the surface was expected to take.
It also had a communication system so that the
miners could speak to the surface while being lifted
up. In an emergency, such as the capsule getting
stuck in the rescue hole, the bottom could be
opened from the inside so that the miner could be
lowered back down to the shelter.
Thanks to the capsule and the organized rescue
efforts, the miners put an end to their life of
darkness. When thery stepped out of the capsule
door to meet their loved ones, the designers of the
Fenix shared in the joy; their efforts resulted in the
saving of 33 lives.