T E N E R I F E ’ S O N LY Issue 674
FREE
W E E K LY N E W S PA P E R
15 October 2010 - 21 October 2010
www.canarianweekly.com
FREE
To hell and back! Chile miners are rescued after 69-day nightmare trapped underground THE incredible rescue story of 33 Chile miners, trapped for 69 days more than halfa-mile underground, came to a magnificent conclusion this week. Every miner was lifted to safety on Wednesday and Thursday from the bowels of a mountain at Camp Hope in what has been deemed The Greatest Escape. They were each taken by helicopter then ambulance to hospital for a thorough medical. A spokesman at the hospital, in Copiapo, said some of the miners were suffering from skin, dental and eye problems, as well as having breathing difficulties. He also said some had shown “slightly worrying psychological signs”, and added: “They have had to undergo two months of stress, but the majority seem to be dealing with this absolutely fine.” Doctors are most concerned about Mario Gomez, the ninth miner to be winched up. He is believed to be suffering from pneumonia, having already been diagnosed with the miners’ lung disease before the mine shaft collapsed. The rescue operation, planned over a 52-day period of anxiety for miners and their families alike, ran like clockwork, with each of the freed men being greeted by hoards of cameramen and press, and then their grateful families. Cheers rang out around the San Jose copper mine in the early hours of Thursday as 54-year-old shift foreman Luis Urzua, the real hero below ground, became the
last man to be hoisted to the surface to complete a rescue mission lasting under 23 hours. To the delight of their loved ones, the men were lifted one-by-one more than 2,000ft to the surface in a metal pod nicknamed “Phoenix”. The first to emerge was shy 31-year-old Florencio Avalos in the early hours of Wednesday. And, as the day unfolded, the speed of each rescue increased, reducing the time it took to bring each man to the top to just 10 minutes, which was quicker than ever expected. Also at the remarkable site was Chile President
The home of good shopping Come & See our *NEW LOOK* Store, in Los Cristianos - now Bigger & better! Opp. Paloma Beach Apts, CC Costamar, Los Cristianos and Las Chafiras
Sebastian Pinera, who greeted each miner with a huge hug, as did his wife. He had become personally involved in the saga, putting his mining minister in charge of the operation, alongside the operations chief of the country’s biggest mining company, the state-owned Codelco. More than 1.2 billion people worldwide were said to have watched the rescue unfold, and a jubilant Pinero said: “This operation has been so marvellous, so clean and so emotional that there was no reason not to allow the eyes of the world, which have been watching it so closely, to see it.”
The President added: “It was a true rebirth, not just for the 33 miners but also for the spirit of unity, strength, faith and hope they have shown our country and around the world.” At 1.55am Mr Urzua, credited with keeping the men strong mentally and physi-
cally throughout their ordeal, arrived at the surface to a scene of “exhilaration, excitement and exhaustion”, according to Sky News correspondent Emma Hurd. He embraced the President as he reached the surface and told him: “We have done what the entire world was
waiting for. “The 70 days that we fought so hard were not in vain. We had strength, we had spirit, and we wanted to fight. We wanted to fight for our families, and that was the greatest thing.” The president replied: “You are not the same, and the Continued on page 3.