A decade on: remembering the Chilean miners' rescue

A cave-in at the San Jose coper-gold mine trapped 33 men underground for 69 days but all survived

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  A policeman stands guard on a hill in front of a copper and gold mine where 33 miners are trapped in Copiapo, August 6, 2010. Rescuers struggled on Friday to reach the miners trapped in the small mine in northern Chile after a cave-in a day earlier, hoping miners took refuge in an underground shelter with oxygen and water. REUTERS

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  Chilean President Sebastian Pinera shows a message reading "We are fine in the refuge, the 33 of us", from the miners trapped in the San Esteban gold and copper mine, on August 22, 2010. AFP

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  Florencio Antonio Avalos Silva, one of 33 trapped miners during the first contact with a video camera after 17 days, in San Esteban gold and copper mine, on August 22, 2010. AFP

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  Relatives of trapped miners react after learning that the 33 miners were found alive in Copiapo, August 22, 2010. The thirty-three Chilean miners trapped deep underground sent a message to the surface tied to a drill on Sunday, saying they were all alive in their first contact since a cave-in 17 days ago, but experts said it would take months to dig them out. REUTERS

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  Chilean Romina Gomez writes a letter to be sent through a drill to his father, miner Mario Gomez on August 23, 2010, a day after learning via a camera lowered deep below ground that the 33 workers were alive and in good health. AFP

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  Chile's Health Minister Jaime Manalich points to a canister containing a special food that will be sent to the 33 miners, August 24, 2010. Rescuers sent Chilean miners still alive 18 days after a cave-in supplies of saline and glucose through a narrow drill hole on Monday, and now face a months-long, half-mile dig to save them. REUTERS

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  Workers prepare a tube filled with supplies for the miners, August 25, 2010. Engineers are preparing to install a big drill to rescue 33 miners trapped for 20 days deep in a Chilean mine, and will send down games to help them cope with a wait that could last until Christmas. REUTERS

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  A computer screen shows one of the miners inside the mine at Copiapo, August 26, 2010. REUTERS

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  A thermometer in a copper and gold mine where miners are trapped, August 27, 2010. Thirty-three miners trapped for 21 days in a Chilean mine may get videos of Maradona and other soccer greats to beat boredom as they face several months deep underground until they are dug out. REUTERS

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  A video grab shows the miners trapped underground, August 27, 2010. REUTERS

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  Chilean pianist Roberto Bravo performs during a show for the relatives of the trapped miners, at the San Jose gold and copper mine in Copiapo, August 29, 2010. The 33 men were to finally hear the voices of their loved ones on Sunday in their first phone contact with relatives since they were discovered alive. To date, the only contact between relatives and the men, stuck 700 meters underground for 24 days, has been through notes and official intermediaries. AFP

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  The trapped miners in video frame grab taken August 29, 2010. Chile was looking at ways to speed up the rescue of 33 miners trapped deep underground for 24 days who officials have said might have to wait three to four months to see the light of day. REUTERS

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  Video grab from the first video showing Mario Gomez (63) one of the 33 miners that are trapped since August 5, on August 30, 2010. Rescuers prepared Friday to start drilling an escape shaft down to the miners who showed the world through a video they were upbeat as they waited for salvation that will take months to arrive. Workers have began to install the hydraulic bore, an Australian-made Strata 950, that will dig down to the miners who are holed up in a refuge annexed to a tunnel 700 metres below ground. REUTERS

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  Andre Sougarret the head of the team of workers, talks via video conference with Mario Sepulveda, one of the 33 trapped miners, inside a camp outside the mine September 4, 2010. Rescue workers are preparing to begin using a Schramm T130 Drill, normally used to bore water wells, parallel to another slower one already working, in a bid to reach the miners stuck in a hot and humid tunnel 2,300 feet (700 meters) underground. REUTERS

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  In a video frame grab miners Luis Urzua and Mario Sepulveda talk while working to cart away rock dropped into the tunnel by one of the rigs drilling from the surface to rescue the 33 miners, September 29, 2010. REUTERS

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  A Chilean policeman plays soccer with children of the miners trapped underground at the San Jose mine in Copiapo October 11, 2010. REUTERS

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  Video grab of the rescue capsule that will be lowered down to hoist trapped miners out at San Jose mine in Copiapo, October 12, 2010. The first of 33 trapped miners will be pulled to safety in a capsule barely wider than a man's shoulders on Tuesday night as a two-month ordeal deep inside a Chilean mine draws to an end. REUTERS

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  Residents cheer when the first rescuer reached the underground refuge of the miners trapped in the San Jose mine, while watching on a large screen in a public square in Copiapo October 12, 2010. Chile's 33 trapped miners are set to travel nearly half a mile through solid rock in a shaft just wider than a man's shoulders on Tuesday night, as their two month ordeal after a cave-in draws to an end. REUTERS

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  The capsule arrives with the first miner Florencio Avalos, one of the 33 trapped miners, in presence of his wife, his son, Chile's President Sebastian Pinera, his wife and Mining Minister Laurence Golborne in San Jose mine, near Copiapo, Chile, on October 12, 2010. REUTERS

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  The first rescued miner Florencio Avalos is pictured with his wife and his son in presence of Chile's President Sebastian Pinera, his wife and Mining Minister Laurence Golborne in San Jose mine, near Copiapo, Chile, on October 12, 2010. REUTERS

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  Bolivian miner, Carlos Mamani, the 4th miner to be rescued, welcomed by Chilean President Sebastian Pinera after his rescue in San Jose mine, near Copiapo, Chile, on October 13, 2010. REUTERS

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  Miner Alex Vega arrives inside the capsule as the tenth to be rescued in Copiapo October 13, 2010. REUTERS

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  Miner Mario Gomez, 63, the oldest of the 33 trapped miners, celebrates as he is wheeled into the field hospital for a check-up after arriving on the surface as the ninth to be rescued in Copiapo October 13, 2010. Chile's 33 trapped miners are set to travel nearly half a mile through solid rock in a shaft just wider than a man's shoulders on Tuesday night, as their two month ordeal after a cave-in draws to an end. REUTERS

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  Chilean president Sebastina Pinera and Bolivian President Evo Morales congratulate a miner after the rescue operation in San Jose mone, near Copaipo, in Chile on October 13, 2010. REUTERS

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  A video image taken on October 13, 2010, shows the Phoenix rescue capsule being prepped before it leaves the underground mine, removing Luis Urzua, the last of the 33 trapped miners in Copiapo, Chile October 13, 2010. All of Chile's 33 trapped miners were rescued from the bowels of the earth in a special capsule on Wednesday as a extraordinary two-month survival story many call a miracle triggered wild celebrations. REUTERS

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  Rescued miner Mario Sepulveda acts out experiences from the time he was trapped underground in the San Jose mine, for Chile's President Sebastian Pinera at Copiapo Hosptial where the 33 rescued miners are undergoing medical examinations October 14, 2010. Chile's 33 newly rescued miners recovered from their ordeal on Thursday while also pondering the celebrity status they have gained following a more than two-month entrapment deep under a remote desert. REUTERS

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  Chilean miner Ariel Ticona and his wife Elizabeth Segovia hold their baby girl Esperanza, who was born while Ticona was trapped in the San Jose mine, moments after he arrived home for the first time since being rescued in Copiapo October 15, 2010. Chile's rescued miners headed home on Friday as heroes after an ordeal deep underground during which they drank oil-contaminated water and set off explosives in a desperate bid to alert rescuers. REUTERS

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  Pope Francis poses with a group of Chilean miners who were rescued from the 2010 mining accident, at the end of his weekly general audience at St Peter's square on October 14, 2015 at the Vatican. AFP

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  Chilean miners Luis Urzua and Mario Gomez and actor Antonio Banderas attend the Centerpiece Gala Premiere of Alcon Entertainment's "The 33" during AFI FEST 2015 presented by Audi at TCL Chinese Theatre on November 9, 2015 in Hollywood, California. AFP

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  Chilean miners Luis Urzua, Edison 'Elvis' Pena, Juan Carlos Aguilar and Mario Gomez arrive for the Centerpiece Gala Premiere of Alcon Entertainment's 'The 33' during AFI FEST 2015 presented by Audi at TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California on November 9, 2015. AFP

October 13 marks 10 years since 33 Chilean miners were pulled to the surface after a cave-in at the San Jose coper-gold mine left them trapped underground for 69 days. Millions of people worldwide tuned in to watch the rescue via video stream as the men were slowly winched to the surface, where their desperate families, accompanied by Chilean President Pinera and the first lady, Cecilia Morel were waiting to greet them.

A decade on, pictures of the dramatic rescue that involved almost every Chilean government ministry and the NASA space agency – costing US$20 million – are a vivid reminder of the miners’ ordeal during the longest underground entrapment in history.

Stuck 700 feet below the surface, five kilometres from the entrance, the men initially took refuge in an emergency shelter, but poor ventilation in the hot, humid environment forced them to move into a tunnel. Meagre emergency supplies of tinned fish provided enough food for a few days, but the men rationed them over two weeks, running out just as they were discovered.

On August 22, 17 days after the mine caved in, the miners attached a note to a probe lowered down by authorities saying, "We are fine in the shelter, the 33 of us." But testimony from survivors hinted a darker ordeal.

"All 33 trapped miners, practicing a one-man, one-vote democracy worked together to maintain the mine, look for escape routes and keep up morale. We knew that if society broke down we would all be doomed. Each day a different person took a bad turn. Every time that happened, we worked as a team to try to keep the morale up," miner Mario Sepulveda said after leaving hospital.

All of the men, he added, took an oath of silence to conceal certain details of their experiences underground, especially during the first few weeks as despair set in before contact was established with rescue teams.

Miraculously, all men emerged from the mine in reasonable health and subsequently contributed to a book by prize-winning writer Hector Tobar and a film directed by Patricia Riggen chronicling their ordeal.