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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First Chilean San Jose Miner Surfaces After Spending 69 Days Underground

Florencio Antonio Avalos Silva arrives on the surface.

Chile and family members celebrate rescue as the world watched.

By H. Nelson Goodson
October 12, 2010

San Jose Mine, Chile - On Tuesday, the first rescuer Manuel Gonzalez Pavaz was lowered just before midnight into the mine, while the world watch through live coverage. Afterwards, Florencio Antonio Avalos Silva, 30, left the underground mine just after 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday Chile time. He arrived on the surface at about 12:17 a.m. and became the first of 33 trapped miners to be brought to the surface in a 13-foot tall rescue claustrophobic capsule shaped like a bullet. The capsule was equip with a communication device, an oxygen mask and tinted goggles for miners to protect their eyes from daylight or lights from media cameras when they reach the surface.
Avalos Silva had been underground since August 5, when a chamber corridor of the mine collapsed and blocked the exit about a half a mile from the surface of the San Jose mountain in the Atacama Desert.
Chilean President Sebastian Piñera in a press conference said, the San Jose Mine will not reopen until safety measures are established and can operate safely. Piñera assured that all the mines in Chile will be brought up to safety codes.
The second rescuer Roberto Rios was lowered and arrived at the mine shelter site at 12:44 a.m. and the second miner Mario Sepúlveda, 40, was prepared and began his journey at 12:55 a.m. to the surface. Sepúlveda arrived yelling of joy to the surface at 1:09 a.m. The next miner to surface at 1:50 a.m. was Juan Illanos Palma, 52. He reached the surface at 2:08 a.m. The fourth miner, Carlos Mamani Soliz, 24, from Bolivia began to exit the mine at 2:53 a.m. and arrived at the surface at 3:09 a.m. The rescue process will be ongoing for at least 46 hours. The miners have spent 69 days underground,
The operation to extract the miners began shortly after 6:00 p.m. (5:00 E.T.) and will take about an hour, including the turn around time to bring each miner to the surface totaling at least 48 hours. It will take a few minutes to strap the miner into the capsule, to hoist the capsule to surface will take between 10-15 minutes and to return the capsule to the underground shaft will take another 25-30 minutes, said Laurence Golborne, Mining Minister.
Each miner received new socks, underwear, and a green moisture resistant coveralls before surfacing. They will also get a take home towel, both the towel and coveralls will have their names on it.
The first five to be extracted from the mine would be the miners with the most technical experience, who are expected to advise the surface rescuers about getting the rest of the men out. The second group of five men will be those with minor medical conditions.
The foreman for the shift, Luis Alberto Urzua Iribarren, 54, is expected to be the last miner to surface and will go into the Guinness World Record as the longest miner to be trapped underground for more than nine weeks and survive.
More than 1,700 media personnel from 39 countries have been at Camp Hope to cover the last phase of the rescue. They brought their own noisy power generating equipment that can be heard all around the camp Hope.
The Chilean government also provided a major news televise network pool for the rest of world countries seeking to cover the history making event.
A Chilean mine executive, Leonardo Farkas has given a $10,000 dollar check to each family in the name of each of the 33 miners that were trapped and has set up a fund to collect donations.
Family members of 27 workers have filed a $10 million dollar lawsuit against the San Jose Mine owners claiming that negligence contributed to the collapse of the mine. They are also planning to file a similar lawsuit against government regulators, according to media reports.
So far, the cost of the rescue has been estimated between $9.7 million to $22 million U.S. dollars. The San Jose Mine owners who also own other mines around Chile were planning to file bankruptcy to avoid paying for the rescue, according to their attorney. But the government intervene and froze all the assets of the San Jose Mine, including the other mines the owners have to make sure they do get to pay for the cost incurred and to help families with funds that were affected by the mine incident.
Other miners who escaped and were injured have been without work since August 5.

Photo and profile for each miner provided at BBC News link at: http://bbc.in/b96yYH

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Historic Chilean Rescue To Extract Trapped San Jose Miners To Begin At 6 p.m. (5 p.m. E.T.) Tuesday

On Saturday a drill broke through the ceiling of the shelter where 33 miners are located after being trapped when a cave collapse on August 5.
Photos: Chilean government media pool

A two day operation will begin Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. (5:00 p.m. E.T.) to bring the trapped miners to the surface

By H. Nelson Goodson
October 12, 2010

San Jose Mine, Chile - On Tuesday, Florencio Antonio Avalos Silva, 30, will be the first of 33 trapped miners will be brought to the surface in a 13-foot tall rescue claustrophobic capsule shaped like a bullet. The capsule is equip with a communication device, an oxygen mask and tinted goggles for miners to protect their eyes from daylight or lights from media cameras when they reach the surface.
The miners had been underground since August 5, when a chamber corridor of the mine collapsed and blocked the exit about a half a mile from the surface of the San Jose mountain in the Atacama Desert.
On September 17,  rescue workers from different countries, including the U.S. began to drill a various holes through solid rock at different areas. One of the drills finally broke through on Saturday.
The miners will be allowed to meet with designated family members and then will be taken to a temperary field medical facility at the mine property for two hours for medical examination, Some of the miners might be suffering from psychological conditions, according to Jaime Manalich, from the Chilean Health Ministry.
Family members have been staying in a make shift Camp Hope (Esperanza) near the mine.
The Chilean government has said, the miners have been working in solidarity, but family members of some of the miners say that several men broke away from the main group. They have been isolated underground for 68 days and differences between them, 32 Chilean and one Bolivian miner ages 19 to 63 was expected to naturally brew as a human reaction to being trapped together with fear of not surviving.
They will be kept from the media to help protect their privacy with family members. But most likely will meet Chilean President Sebastian Piniera who will be accompanied by Bolivian President Evo Morales. Morales said, he would be at the rescue site.
Once they all surface, the situation will change when they begin dealing with the media frenzy and barrage of questions. The miners have been coached on how to deal with the media. 
Healthy miners will be allowed more time to spend with family members before facing media questions. They will be flown by helicopter to the city of Copiapo about a15-minute flight for further treatment at a hospital.
The operation to extract the miners will begin at 6:00 p.m. (5:00 E.T.) and will take about an hour, including the turn around time to bring each miner to the surface totaling at least 48 hours. It will take a few minutes to strap the miner into the capsule, to hoist the capsule to surface will take between 10-15 minutes and to return the capsule to the underground shaft will take another 25-30 minutes, said Laurence Golborne, Mining Minister during a press conference on early Tuesday. Golborne did not release the name of the first miner to be brought to the surface.
At least five rescuers, paramedics and mining experts will descend first into the shaft and once they reach the cave where the miners are located, they will decide who will be the first group to begin their journey to the surface.
Each miner received new socks, underwear, and a green moisture resistant coveralls before surfacing. They will also get a take home towel, both the towel and coveralls will have their names on it.
The first five to be extracted from the mine would be the miners with the most technical experience, who are expected to advise the surface rescuers about getting the rest of the men out. The second group of five men will be those with minor medical conditions.
The foreman for the shift, Luis Alberto Urzua Iribarren, 54, is expected to be the last miner to surface and will go into the Guinness World Record as the longest miner to be trapped underground for more than nine weeks and survive.
More than 1,600 media personnel from 39 countries have been at Camp Hope to cover the last phase of the rescue. They brought their own noisy power generating equipment that can heard all around the camp Hope.
The Chilean government also provided a major news televise network pool for the rest of world countries seeking to cover the history making event.
A Chilean mine executive, Leonardo Farkas has given a $10,000 dollar check to each family in the name of each of the 33 miners that were trapped and has set up a fund to collect donations.
Family members of 27 workers have filed a $10 million dollar lawsuit against the San Jose Mine owners claiming that negligence contributed to the collapse of the mine. They are also planning to file a similar lawsuit against government regulators, according to media reports.
Other miners who escaped and were injured have been without work since August 5.

Photo and profile for each miner provided at BBC News link at: http://bbc.in/b96yYH

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