Global General

Rescue operation for Chilean miners continues

(Xinhua/Agencies)
Updated: 2010-10-13 11:12

Chilean miner Florencio Avalos is embraced by President Sebastian Pinera after he reached the surface as the first of the 33 trapped miners to be hoisted to safety, at the San Jose mine in Copiapo, Oct 13, 2010. [Photo/Xinhua]

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Bolivian Carlos Mamani became the 4th miner rescued from the San Jose mine when the capsule that lifted him up was brought back to surface early Wednesday morning.

Mamani was the only non-Chilean worker among the 33 miners who had been trapped 700 meters underground for 69 days. >>Read Full Story

Second man rescued from Chilean mine

The second of 33 men has been rescued after 69 days trapped in a collapsed mine, pulled to fresh air and freedom at last in a missile-like escape capsule to the cheers of his family and countrymen.

Mario Sepulveda Espina climbed out of the rescue capsule and jubilantly hugged wife, President Sebastian Pinera and rescuers, and then handed them pieces of rock from his undergound home.

SAN JOSE MINE - Florencio Avalos, the first of 33 miners to be rescued, has surfaced after 69 days underground.

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He stepped out of a rescue capsule amid sobs from his young son and received a bracing bear hug from Chilean President Sebastian Pinera.

Avalos smiled widely as he hugged rescuers, then Pinera, as his wife, two sons and father looked on. His 7-year-old son Bairo sobbed, as did Chile's first lady, Cecilia Morel. Then Avalos was escorted into a medical triage center for the first of a battery of tests.

The operation to rescue the 33 miners trapped in San Jose mine in the north of Chile since Aug 5 began late Tuesday, with a rescuer being lowered in a capsule down a rescue shaft to reach the trapped miners deep underground.

Manuel Gonzalez, the first rescuer and a paramedic, was in the capsule to head down to the miners who have been trapped for over two months some 700 meters deep underground.

Two tests had been made before the operation.

The first test was about lowering down the Phoenix Two Capsule 65 meters underground and the second will lower down the Capsule some 85 meters down.

The capsule that carries Florencio Avalos, the first of 33 miners underground, reaches surface at the San Jose mine in Copiapo Oct 12, 2010. [Photo/Xinhua]