Chilean Miners; Living Miracles

Chilean Miners; Living Miracles
By: Heather Hines  

On August 22, 2010, after an intense and mentally draining wait, all of Chile was in high spirits. This reaction came after receiving information that thirty three miners, who had been trapped underground for seventeen days, were alive. One minute the miners were hard at work and the next minute they were trapped 2300 ft. underground. Finally family and friends of those who had been trapped could breathe a little easier. The miners were alive. But there was one big problem. The men had survived the explosion and being buried alive, but they were still trapped nearly a half of a mile under the earth’s surface. The rescue team had to find a way to rescue the men as soon as possible, but they couldn’t compromise the men’s safety. In the meantime, they would have to get water and food to sustain the men, as well as keep them occupied for the long wait ahead.
According to World News Digest, “The men in early August had become trapped by fallen rock after a build-up of methane gas had exploded in the mine, near the northern city of Capiapo. Rescue teams had feared that they were dead” (“Chile”). “Mine officials and relatives of the workers had hoped the men reached a shelter inside the mine when the tunnel collapsed in the San Jose gold and copper mine about 530 miles north of the capital, Santiago. They said the shelter’s emergency air and food supplies would only last forty eight hours” (Quilodran).
Desperately, rescuers tried to reach the men below, but failed seven times. They blamed the errors to reach the shelter, on the mine’s maps. On that first Sunday morning, the rescuers tried an eighth time. When they drilled down they heard the sounds of hammers. They sent down a probe and it came back up with two notes contained in a plastic bag. This gave hope to the friends and family that had gathered outside the mine, in what they called, Camp Hope.
The opening the rescuers had drilled was not big enough...