More than half of the miners rescued as Omar Reygadas becomes the 17th man out

[News_Editor]

More than half of the miners rescued as Omar Reygadas becomes the 17th man out

2010-10-14 00:23:25 GMT+7 (ICT)

NEAR COPIAPO, CHILE (BNO NEWS) -- After the rescue of 17 miners at the San Jose copper-gold mine in northern Chile, the operation to rescue the rest of the miners continues.

In one of the most complex rescue operations in history, 17 of 33 miners safely reached the surface on Wednesday to end more than two months of being trapped deep underground.

So far, Florencio Avalos, Mario Sepulveda, Juan Illanes, Carlos Mamani, Jimmy Sanchez, Osman Araya, Jose Ojeda Vidal, Claudo Yañez, Mario Gomez, Alex Vega, Jose Galleguillos, Edison Peña, Carlos Barrios, Victor Zamora, Victor Segovia, Daniel Herrera and Omar Reygadas have been rescued.

Chilean mining minister Laurence Golborne, during a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, said the operation could be completed on Wednesday night. According to Golborne, the last miner rescued will be Luis Urzua.

Hundreds of millions of people in Chile and around the world were glued to television screens as the first miner, 31-year-old Florencio Avalos Silva, exited his rescue capsule after it reached the surface, where he was welcomed by loud applause and cheers of joy.

"The first miner has been rescued in a manner which really does make every Chilean feel proud," said Chilean President Sebastián Piñera after Avalos was rescued. "We still have a long way to go," he cautioned, adding that rescue workers will not stop until every miner has been rescued.

Avalos was welcomed by Piñera and scores of rescue workers but also by his wife, Monica. His son, Laino, who was also there, began crying as his father's capsule reached the surface. Celebrations erupted across the South American country after Avalos safely reached the surface.

Now 17 miners have been rescued, the operation will continue to rescue the 31 other miners who are still trapped underground. It could take up to Wednesday night or early Thursday to complete the operation.

The crisis began on August 5 when a part of the San José copper-gold mine in northern Chile collapsed, leaving 33 miners trapped 700 meters (2,300 feet) underground. More than two weeks later, relatives and rescue workers were shocked but relieved to find that the miners had survived and were in a good condition.

Over the next two months, rescue workers drilled several holes to eventually lower a capsule down to evacuate the miners one by one. It was a process that was initially expected to take until Christmas, if not longer, but was already completed last week.

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