8 out of 33 trapped Chile miners rescued

By Jurina Nkwazi
13 October 2010

Eight miners have been brought to safety today after being trapped 625 metres for two months underground in Chile.

Family and friends singed praises as the men reached the surface.

It was initially said the men will only be out by Christmas but thanks to the rescue team the mission has been speeded up to October 13.

Florencio Avalos, Mario Sepulveda, Juan Illanes, Bolivian Carlos Mamami, Jimmy Sanchez, Osman Araya, Jose Ojeda, Claudio Yanez have been rescued thus far.

This has been very difficult for 19 year-old Sanchez, the youngest miner to be trapped underground.

He’s only been working for five months as a miner.

It takes about 1 hour per miner to bring them to safety through a capsule with a width less than a man’s shoulder.

The capsule travels at about one metre per second, or a casual walking pace, and can speed to three metres per second if the miner being carried gets into trouble.

An intercom in the capsule is used to communicate with the rescue team and the miners.
Once they’ve reached the surface they are being welcomed by their families and taken to hospital for observation.

Meanwhile relatives of Mario Gomez, Alex Vega, Jorge Galleguillos, Edison Pena, Carlos Barrios, Victor Zamora, Victor Segovia, Daniel Herrera, Omar Reygadas, Esteban Rojas, Pablo Rojas, Dario Segovia, Yonni Barrios, Samuel Avalos, Carlos Bugueno, Jose Henriquez, Renan Avalos, Claudio Acuna, Franklin Lobos, Richard Villarroel, Juan Aguilar, Raul Bustos, Pedro Cortez, Ariel Ticona, Luis Urzua are anxiously waiting to be reunited with their loved ones.

The names are in the order in which the miners will be rescued.

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