Jubilation and relief could be felt across Chile after the miners began to surface from the collapsed copper mine, after more than two months underground [AFP]
Published On 13 Oct 201013 Oct 2010
The road to rescue, however, was filled with worry and anguish for the friends and relatives of the miners [EPA]
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Upon learning of the mine(***)s collapse, there was doubt as to whether the miners were alive. But a video camera installed showed proof of life [EPA]
Celebrations ensued and Chilean president Sebastian Pinera then announced the start of rescue operations [EPA]
The rescue effort was very detailed and involved weeks of planning [EPA]
Technical personnel had initally estimated the miners would be rescued just before Christmas [EPA]
But friends and relatives continued to hope a quicker rescue operation would be achieved [EPA]
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After two months, rescue teams lifted the miners to the surface one by one in a narrow, missile-like capsule, nicknamed Phoenix [EPA]
It took roughly 16 minutes for each miner to be pulled up the shaft, although it was originally estimated that the journey would take half an hour [EPA]
President Pinera embraced Florencio Avalos, the first miner to be rescued. It took only 16 minutes for Avalos to be pulled up the shaft in what was deemed an "extraordinarily successful" operation [AFP]
