Rescuers begin raising miners

SAN JOSE MINE, Chile – To hugs, cheers and tears, rescuers using a missile-like escape capsule began pulling 33 men one by one to fresh air and freedom early today, 69 days after they were trapped in a collapsed mine almost a half-mile underground.

Rescued first was Florencio Avalos, who wore a helmet and sunglasses to protect him from the glare of bright lights. He smiled broadly as he emerged and hugged his sobbing 7-year-old son and wife, then bearhugged Chilean President Sebastian Pinera and rescuers.

A second miner, Mario Sepulveda Espina, was pulled to the surface about an hour later. After hugging his wife, he jubilantly handed souvenir rocks to laughing rescuers.

After the first capsule came out of the manhole-sized opening, Avalos emerged as bystanders cheered, clapped and broke into a chant of “Chi! Chi! Chi! Le! Le! Le!”

Avalos gave a thumbs-up as he was led to an ambulance and medical tests after more than two months deep below the Chilean desert – the longest anyone has ever been trapped underground and survived.

Avalos, the 31-year-old second-in-command of the miners, was chosen to be first because he was in the best condition. He has been so shy that he volunteered to handle the camera rescuers sent down so he wouldn’t have to appear on the videos that the miners sent up.

Pinera described how lovely it was to see Avalos’ sons greet their father, especially 7-year-old Bairon.

“I told Florencio that few times have I ever seen a son show so much love for his father,” the president said.

“This won’t be over until all 33 are out,” Pinera added. “Hopefully the spirit of these miners will remain forever with us. … This country is capable of great things.”

Minutes earlier, mine rescue expert Manuel Gonzalez of the state copper company Codelco grinned and made the sign of the cross as he was lowered into the shaft to the trapped men – apparently without incident. He was followed by Roberto Ros, a paramedic with the Chilean navy’s special forces. Together they are preparing the miners for their rescue – expected to take as long as 36 hours for all to surface.

The last miner out has been decided: Shift foreman Luis Urzua, whose leadership was credited for helping the men endure 17 days with no outside contact after the collapse. The men made 48 hours’ worth of rations last before rescuers reached them with a narrow borehole to send down more food.

The paramedics can change the order of rescue based on a brief medical check once they’re in the mine. First out will be those best able to handle any difficulties and tell their comrades what to expect. Then, the weakest and the ill – in this case, about 10 suffer from hypertension, diabetes, dental and respiratory infections and skin lesions from the mine’s oppressive humidity. The last should be people who are both physically fit and strong of character.

Chile has taken extensive precautions to ensure the miners’ privacy, using a screen to block the top of the shaft from the more than 1,000 journalists at the scene.

Each ride up the shaft is expected to take about 20 minutes, and authorities expect they can haul up one miner per hour. When the last man surfaces, it promises to end a national crisis that began when 700,000 tons of rock collapsed Aug. 5, sealing the miners into the lower reaches of the mine.

Panic attacks are the rescuers’ biggest concern. The miners will not be sedated – they need to be alert in case something goes wrong. If a miner must get out more quickly, rescuers will accelerate the capsule to a maximum 3 meters per second, Health Minister Jaime Manalich said.

The rescue is risky simply because no one else has ever tried to extract miners from such depths, said Davitt McAteer, who directed the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration in the Clinton administration. A miner could get claustrophobic and do something to damage the capsule. Or a falling rock could wedge it in the shaft. Or the cable could get hung up. Or the rig that pulls the cable could overheat.

“You can be good and you can be lucky. And they’ve been good and lucky,” McAteer told the AP. “Knock on wood that this luck holds out for the next 33 hours.”

U.S. President Barack Obama praised rescuers, who include many Americans. “While that rescue is far from over and difficult work remains, we pray that by God’s grace the miners will be able to emerge safely and return to their families soon,” he said.

Chile has promised that its care of the miners won’t end for six months at least – not until they can be sure that each miner has readjusted.

Psychiatrists and other experts in surviving extreme situations predict their lives will be anything but normal.