Memories from a mine disaster

Copiapo, Chile hile the world has begun to move on, the 33 miners rescued from the San Jose Mine near here are just starting to grapple with the enormousness of what happened to them.

Omar Reygadas, a 56-year-old greatgrandfather who entered his first mine at 7 (with his miner father), does not scare easily; he survived two previous cave-ins at the San Jose Mine and narrowly escaped a third that killed another miner. But in the first days after the latest collapse in August, he cried, rolling over on his damp cardboard bed to face the wall.

"I'm not embarrassed to say I cried, but I cried from helplessness," he said. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared too, but I knew how to keep it inside to avoid sparking fear in others."