The Chilean Miners Finally Rescued

YouTube - 1st Trapped Miner's Freedom Turns Worry Into Joy

(USA Today) In one of the most amazing rescues after being trapped in an underground mind for 69 days, all 33 miners in Chiles have finally been rescued and are safe.  Applause --and chants of "Long life to Chilean miners" erupted each time a motorcade of police cars and motorbikes--sirens wailing-pulled into the hospital here Wednesday with an ambulance and its miner patient.  "He looked very pale, very fragile, but in a good mood," said Eva Gomez, whose brother Mario Gomez, 63, the oldest miner among the 33 miners, was rescued at 6:00 a.m. Wednesday.  All day rescued miners were being shuttled in helicopters to an army base in Copiapo and then driven three blocks to the hospital.  Once there, miners were undergoing medical exams, reuniting with relatives and getting slowly ready to face worldwide attention in person.  Bystanders and reporters gathered outside the hospital to wait for the ambulances to arrive.  The last miner out--emerging to cheers from the Phoenix capsule that rescued the men one at a time--was Luis Urzua, the shift leader when the mine collapsed 70 days ago.  He arrived at the surface just before 10 p.m.  (9 p.m. ET), 22.5 hours after the first miner was rescued.

"We have done what the entire world was waiting for," he told Chilean President Sebastian Pinera immediately after his rescue, the Associated Press reported.  "The 70 days that we fought so hard were not in vain.  We had strength, we had spirit, we wanted to fight, we wanted to fight for our families, and that was the greatest thing."  Pinera told him: "You are not the same, and the country is not the same after this.  You were an inspiration.  Go hug your wife and your daughter."  All six rescue workers who descended into the mine to give technical and medical support to the trapper miners later followed Urzua to the surface.  Relatives who earlier in the day had yet to see their miners said they appeared healthy in the videos that have aired over the past few weeks.  During that time, government officials and rescue team members had been reluctant to go into details, feeding rumors and generating anxiety among the families of the trapper miners.  "I talked to him last Saturday, and the only thing he said was that he was scared, that the mine was making creaking noises, that he was tired, that he felt sick," Eva Gomez said.  By Wednesday evening, miners were undergoing exams in the hospital that included chest X-rays, cardiac ultrasound scans and dermatological and ophthalomological tests. 

"Considering their ordeal and what they went through the last two months, the miners are in very good medical conditions and in an extraordinarily good mood," Health Minister Jaime Manalich said.  "We are taking good care of them; in face, we are spoiling them."  Manalich said some of the miners will undergo special treatments.  Some needed urgent dental care, up to the point that two miners were scheduled for surgery last Thursday.  Another miner has pneumonia and started receiving an antibiotic treatment four days ago, while stuck 2200 feet below ground.  Mario Gomez had a previous condition called pneumoconiosis, also known as black lung disease, a relatively common disease among miners who have worked for decades exposed to rock dust.  The hospitalized miners are to be quarantined for 48 hours, but some are in such good shape that they might be released sooner.  Others need extra days of treatments, Manalich said.  Many who have arrived here are only now realizing how much of the world has been following their ordeal.  "I really don't think they know what's awaiting them.  They might have a vague idea about it, think they can cut a book deal or even a movie, but this is much more than that," said Francisco Lermanda, a rescue expert with private contractor SigTech, which has been providing technical help to the resuce operation. 

Manalich said all of them will need psychological care for at least a month to deal with worldwide exposure.  They are being offered to continue with therapy for a least six months to help them to adjust after being trapped for 69 days.