After being trapped for 17 days, over 2,300 feet underground, 33 Chilean miners have been found alive, at the bottom of a mine shaft in San Jose. Receiving food and medication, they can communicate with their families, while authorities begin the mammoth task of digging them out.
It was on Aug. 5 that the roof of a gold and copper mine near the city of Copiapó in Chile collapsed, trapping all 33 miners in the process, reports BBC News. Working round the clock for over two weeks, the rescue team were starting to lose hope. On Sunday, they finally got a breakthrough and discovered a makeshift refuge deep underground where all the miners were sheltering, hungry and tired, but alive.
As soon as the good news broke, the Chilean president, Sebastián Piñera, gathered their families and was able to read out a note from the miners themselves: “All 33 of us are fine in the shelter,” it said, as family members hugged and wept with relief. Other notes were sent to specific family members, such as one from Mario Gomez, 63, the eldest of the miners who told his wife: “I’m well, thank God. I hope to get out soon. Have patience and faith.”
While relatives of the miners began to celebrate, singing the national anthem and planting 33 flags in honor of each of their relatives, the authorities started to plan the rescue operation. It could take as long as four months for rescue teams dig a tunnel large enough to get them safely back to ground level.
Until that happy day, at least they will be able to get food, medicine and water and messages of support from their family. And if a recent message from Gomez is anything to go by, the moral of the group is high. “I want to tell everyone I’m OK, and am sure we will survive,” he said optimistically.
Let’s hope for some more good news in the coming weeks….
Photo by Diegosaurius Rex via Flickr.