I-MAG STS Corporation
The rescue of the Chilean miners: On August 5 2010 33
Chilean miners working at the San Jose' copper and gold mine in the
Atacama Desert about 45 kilometers north of the regional capital
Copiapo' were trapped 2300 feet underground and 5 kilometers from the
entrance by a tunnel collapse.
After 17 days of drilling
a drill bit was retrieved a note was found attached to it: "Estamos
bien en el refugio, los 33" (We are well in the shelter, the 33 of
us).
The trapped miners, most of whom were Roman Catholic,
asked for religious items, including Bibles, crucifixes, rosaries, and
statues of the Virgin Mary and other saints to be sent down to them.
After Pope Benedict XVI sent each man a rosary, these were brought to
the mine by the Archbishop of Santiago, Cardinal Francisco Javier
Errázuriz Ossa in person.
After 69 days and an enormous amount
of effort by Chileans and a diverse international group all the miners
were brought to the surface one at a time in a specially designed
capsule.
"Puro, Chile, es tu cielo azulado" (=Pure, Chile, is
your blue sky") - opening
line of the Chilean National anthem. We
imagine, after several eternities that
were just ten weeks for
most us, even in sunglasses, the sky never looked so
good.