All 33 Chilean Miners Have Been Rescued!

The nightmare that began at Peru's San Jose mine 69 days ago, is finally over. After months of agony, the entire world watched mesmerized as the 33 trapped mine workers emerged from the narrow tunnel, one at a time, about every half hour. The best part was that they all appeared to be healthy and in great spirits.

The rescue effort began after midnight on Tuesday and continued non-stop until the last miner, Luis Urzua, emerged amidst wild cheers and plenty of tears at about 11.40pm on Wednesday night. The 54-year old shift commander is being credited for keeping the miners calm and organized, during the initial 17 days when they had no contact with the outside world. It was therefore not surprising to see this brave man, demonstrate his leadership right until the end, by electing to stay behind, until all his men made it up safely.

Besides the door jamming a little and the wheels requiring some lubrication, Phoenix the slender capsule, which brought the men up, worked flawlessly. In fact, as it traveled up and down, it did not even rotate as much as had been expected, making the ascent easier and much faster, than had been originally anticipated.

The miners emerged looking surprisingly fresh and energetic. Of course the fact that all 33 of them were sporting swanky Oakley sunglasses to avoid the glare from the lights, did not hurt.

One of the most memorable moments was when Mario Sepulveda, the second miner to be rescued, ran up and down hugging everbody and distributing rocks from the mine as gifts.

Of course, the men will have to go through extensive tests and maybe even some rehabilitation to ensure they are completely okay, but now that they are out, the rest will be a piece of cake! What a picture perfect finish to what seemed like a never-ending nightmare!

Sources: abc.net.au, christiansciencemonitor.com