Copiapó Mining Accident

[Storyteller.]

Copiapó Mining Accident
By Casey (Casey.)

You're trapped underground with little food or water. The world believes that you are dead. It sounds like a nightmare, but for thirty-three miners in Chile, it was reality when the San José copper-gold mine collapsed on August 5th 2010 near Copiapó in northern Chile.

Chile worked for weeks to reach the trapped men below, not knowing for two weeks if they were dead or alive. But on August 22nd the drill, which had reached the men in their emergency shelter, surfaced with a note attached that read, 'We are okay in the shelter, the 33 [of us].' Efforts then began to rescue the trapped men.

For two weeks the men had survived on a few bites of tuna and sip of milk every two days, stretching their emergency food supply, a supply which was only meant to last forty-eight hours. When it was discovered that the miners were alive, food, clean clothes, and other necessities were sent down to their shelter via a small pipe.

The rescue of the trapped San José miners would be the deepest successful mine rescue on record, and some attempts to reach the men would lead to minor cave-ins. It would be over two months before a shaft was drilled and reinforced that could safely bring the miners to the surface. A tent city nicknamed Campamento Esperanza, or Camp Hope, would be home to family, friends, press, rescue workers, and more for the coming months.

On the night of October 12th 2010, the first miner was brought to the surface among chants of "CHI CHI CHI, LE LE LE, LOS MINEROS DE CHILE". Throughout the night and into the following day, the rest of the thirty-three men were rescued.

The miners were trapped for sixty-nine days, the longest anyone has survived underground. It is said their faith and discipline kept them alive. Currently, ten of the miners have been released from the hospital; the others should be released in the coming weeks. Although the physical health of the men is not terrible, their mental health is being evaluated. Whether or not these men will be able to return to life as normal still remains to be seen, but hopefully they will be.