Monday, October 18, 2010

Sepulveda, Second Chile Rescued Miner Breaks Silent Pack

Mario Sepulveda greets and thanks Chilean President Sebastian Piñera moments after surfacing.
Photo by Chilean government

Sepulveda speaks out on first days after being trapped

By H. Nelson Goodson
October 18, 2010

Chile - Mario Sepulveda, 40, the second Chilean miner to surface from the San Jose Mine after spending 69 days trapped underground spoke to ABC News about his ordeal. Sepulveda told ABC News that the first few days of being trapped underground, that some of the 33 miners often "scream, fought and cried."  "You have everything going through your mind: You fear, you cry and you suffer. You wonder, 'Is anyone coming to save us -- or not?' But doubt always was a passing moment, because we had faith. Every day at noon, we would pray. Every day. Down there, we were all … one religion," Sepulveda said.
The miners could hear drills digging around them, until one finally broke through 17 days later. Sepulveda and some of the miners began to beat on the drill for an hour to let the rescuers on the surface know they were alive. Finally, they strapped a note on the drill saying "We're alive, in the shelter, all 33 of us." When the drill was pulled up, rescuers found the note.
Sepulveda actually went to the beach and stripped naked and went into the water and then kneeled down and thanked God for his rescue.
When Sepulveda first addressed the media shortly after getting rescued while accompanied by his wife and two children, he said, I've seen God and evil while spending time underground and admitted of being reborn again.
Sepulveda says, he managed to encourage the miners and helped keep the faith among them. They held a praying session at noon everyday while trapped, according to him.
Before being discovered alive, Sepulveda admitted to have prepared to die and hoped he would die while sleeping. But, God spared their lives and were all rescued last week Wednesday, Sepulveda says.
He thanked Chilean President Sebastian Piñera and the rest of the rescuers. Sepulveda brought rocks to the surface from the mine and gave them to the president, the engineers and some of the ministers.
On Sunday, a dozen miners that were rescued on Wednesday returned to the San Jose Mine to attend a Sunday mass. The rest stayed away and are coming into grips of being saved.
Dozens of other miners staged a protest while the mass was taking place inside the San Jose Mine property claiming that 300 other miners have become unemployed and haven't received wages since the mine closed and are requesting aid from Piñeras government.

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