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Lesson 5 The Amazing Story of The 33
Lesson 5 The Amazing Story of The 33
Alone in the Dark The miners were lucky to have an air tunnel that
On October 13, 2010, thirty three Chilean miners who allowed enough fresh air to reach them. They also
had been buried inside the San Jose mine 69 days had broken trucks from which they could charge the
were finally rescued. It was a triumph of engineering batteries of their head lamps. In addition, they were
and a victory of faith. The miners locked in below able to drink water from storage tanks nearby. Until
did not give up in the dark, nor did their families the tunnel to deliver food and medicine was
above ground surrender to despair. operational, food was the most critical issue in the
shelter. They only had enough food for two days. For
On August 5, 2010, at around lunch break, miners eighteen days, each person had to live on two
digging for copper and gold started to feel spoonfuls of tuna, a mouthful of milk, bits of
vibrations in the earth. Almost immediately after the crackers, and a bite of canned fruit every other day.
vibrations began, they heard a sudden huge Another factor which bothered the miners severely
explosion, and the whole mine filled up with dust was the high heat and humidity of the shelter. Each
and rock. A massive piece of the nearby mountain miner had lost an average of 8 kilograms by the
had broken off, burying almost all the layers of the time they were rescued.
mine.
For seventeen days after the initial collapse, there collapse. They organized themselves into a society
was no word on their fate. As the days passed, where each person had one vote. They all knew that
Chileans grew increasingly uncertain that any of the if their social structure broke down, their problems
miners had survived. A small exploratory hole was would become more serious and did what they could
drilled on August 22, and the camera captured a do best. For example, Jose Henriquez, a religious
message that said, "We are still alive." It was the first man, tried to keep morale up, and Yonni Barrios,
sign of hope. Soon, a video camera was sent down who had had some medical training, helped other
700 meters deep and capture the first images of the miners with their health problems.
saved.
On October 9, a rescue hole was finally drilled Read More
More than 1,400 news reporters from all over the the 33 miners trapped underground in Chile’s San
world, together with the family members of the Jose copper mine. Painted in the red, white, and blue
miners, gathered to watch the rescue process. colors of Chile, the Fenix looked like a military
the outside, and the inside was 1.9 meters high and
On October 12, the first rescue worker was sent
about 51 centimeters across, which was just enough
downward to the miners, who greeted him with
room for an adult male.
nervous relief. Soon, the first trapped miner was
leaving the capsule, each miner was enthusiastically bottom of the capsule held three tanks of air, which
greeted, but they could not see their families right would provide enough air for one person to breathe
away. They had been trapped for so long that their for about 90 minutes. This amount of air was more
useless. We wanted to live for our families, and that opened from the inside so that the miner could be
was the greatest thing," Urzua said to the Chilean lowered back down to the shelter.
rescued began singing the Chilean national anthem Thanks to the capsule and the organized rescue
saving of 33 lives.