Buenos Aires, Oct. 14, (dpa/GNA) – Chile on Tuesday marked the 10th anniversary of the rescue of 33 miners who had survived for over two months trapped underground in the Atacama desert, comparing it with the challenge of the coronavirus pandemic.
Chile remembers the rescue operation “in the context of the pandemic, facing a sanitary challenge of a global character that threatens people’s lives and health,” daily El Mercurio quoted Atacama administrative chief Patricio Urquieta as saying.
“[We] remember that moment as a feat of unity, of solidarity, which left an unforgettable lesson of self-care, a safety culture, and which made it clear that unity is the only way to achieve the greatest triumphs,” Urquieta’s office tweeted.
On August 5, 2010, part of the San Jose copper mine collapsed underground, leaving the miners trapped at 700 metres beneath the surface. When the rescue team finally found the miners after 17 days and was able to communicate with them, they responded with a note: “We’re all okay in the refuge. The 33.”
It took another 52 days to bring them up through a narrow opening in an operation described as a “miracle,” which was watched by more than a billion people live on television around the world.
“We were reborn that day,” said Luis Urzua, who was shift foreman when the accident occurred, during a virtual celebration involving government representatives and some of the miners.
President Sebastian Pinera, who was head of state also at the time, said “will, unity and hope” had facilitated a rescue that appeared “almost impossible.”
“I wanted the rescue process to be transmitted with a one-minute delay in case something serious happened,” then-mining minister Laurence Golborne told El Mercurio in a report published on Tuesday.
“Today it all looks simple, but at that moment we had to be foreseeing unexpected situations,” he added.
The miners, who had survived in the humid darkness on rations of milk and tuna, became symbols of resistance and hope.
Some of them became public speakers, while a Hollywood movie starring Antonio Banderas told their story.
Now, however, many of them feel abandoned, complaining that they have health troubles, survive on scanty pensions or cannot find work.
“The world has forgotten us,” Bolivian miner Carlos Mamani earlier told El Mercurio. Mamani, who still lives in Copiapo near the mine, had two years of therapy to overcome his trauma and believes he will never work again.
The century-old mine was closed after the accident. Criminal proceedings against the mining company were shelved.
GNA