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First of the thirtythree Chilean miners rescued from deep underground

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After 68 days in a dark, hot purgatory 2,000 feet underground, the first of 33 trapped miners was hoisted to freedom late Tuesday night, a rescue that was expected to mark the beginning of the end of a drama that has mesmerized people worldwide.
Florencio Avalos, 31, was winched to the surface in a specially designed rescue capsule, but Chilean officials cautioned that bringing all the miners up could last through Thursday.

"We are not at a stage of saying it is a mission accomplished," Mining Minister Laurence Golborne said.

Avalos, an expert miner, was the first to make the bumpy journey to freedom because he was considered alert enough to deal with unforeseen problems - if, for example, the cigar-shaped capsule should become lodged in the narrow tunnel leading to the surface.

No such problems arose, though, and Avalos breathed fresh air again shortly after 11:10 p.m. Tuesday.

His arrival drew cheers from the crowd at the top of the rescue shaft, and from scores of people who gathered Tuesday night at the Chilean Embassy in the District.

The last miner to be raised is scheduled to be Luis Urzua, 54, shift chief when the mine collapsed on Aug. 5 and a steady leader for the other men.

Speaking by phone from the mine Tuesday morning, Urzua reflected on the saga, carefully choosing his words to describe what it was like for such a large group to be imprisoned in such tight quarters for so long. "This was a group with different personalities and manners of being," he said.

"We have had a stage here in our lives that we never planned for," said Urzua, who has been mining for three decades. "I hope to never live again like this, but that's the life of a miner."
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Taking charge after the collapse, Urzua rationed food, giving each miner one spoonful of tuna every 48 hours during their first 17 days trapped underground. He also kept order, something that NASA specialists who have been monitoring the crisis say was vital to keeping up morale and preventing discord.

"We had to be strong," Urzua said. "All the workers in the mine fulfilled their roles."

One miner became the spokesman to the outside world, for instance, while others provided comic relief for their comrades and still others simply showed fortitude for their less experienced colleagues.

Asked about the dangers of mining, particularly at this copper and gold deposit in the middle of the Atacama Desert, Urzua said he and the others knew of the dangers. "We always say that when you go into the mine, you respect the mine and hope you get out," he said.
'We knew they were alive'

Since shortly after the accident, the miners' lifeline to the outside world has been a tube no wider than an orange, through which they have been able to talk with rescuers and family members by telephone. They have received necessities such as medicine and food but also personal items to pass the time, such as music.

"They think this is room service," quipped Jean Romagnoli, a doctor who has been monitoring the miners' health through special straps that track their heart rate and blood pressure.

The miners have been told how their saga mobilized a battalion of rescue planners, medical authorities, mining executives and even NASA engineers, who helped troubleshoot some of the equipment the Chileans designed for the rescue.

Seventeen days after the mine collapsed, rescuers were able to drill a bore hole that reached the space where the men were trapped. Workers on the surface heard a faint clanging on the drill bit.

"It was like they were hitting it with a spoon," said Eduardo Hurtado, who operated the machine that enabled rescuers to make that first contact with the miners. "Then a far stronger clanging came up. We knew they were alive."

Then this Saturday, after the sophisticated T-130 drill finished chewing through hundreds of feet of rock, came a wider shaft. That hole is only about the diameter of a bicycle tire but is big enough for the capsule designed to hoist the men up, one by one.

The capsule rises at a rate of about a yard per second, bumping against the sides of the tunnel. A camera on the vessel will allow doctors on the surface to monitor how each miner reacts as he is being raised. Rescue planners will be in constant radio contact with the men as they make their way up.
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At the surface await emotional family members, legions of reporters and hundreds of well-wishers, including President Sebastian Pinera.

"We're so proud the whole country has come behind us," said Urzua, the miner.

Preparing for exit

In their final hours underground, the miners tried to wash up and comb their hair to appear presentable. Special clothes, tailored to each man, were sent down. Some of the miners gathered a few rocks to take with them, a memento from the place they called home for more than two months.

Richard Villaroel, 26, said by phone that he was excited about reuniting with his wife, who is expecting a baby this week. "I didn't sleep at all last night," he said. "I couldn't."

At the Chilean Embassy, live coverage of the rescue effort was broadcast on a jumbo television screen. It drew about 100 people, many of them wearing lapel stickers that carried the words of the first note written by the miners in the opening days of their ordeal: "Estamos bien en el refugio los 33" - We are okay in the refuge.

Some passing drivers on Massachusetts Avenue NW shouted and honked in support as they realized what had drawn the crowd to the embassy.

In Camp Hope, meanwhile, where the miners' families have lived for weeks as authorities methodically planned the rescue, loved ones could hardly contain themselves as word spread that the operation was about to begin.

"I feel anxious," said Olga Carmona, 36, the niece of Mario Gomez, 63, the eldest miner. "We have waited all these weeks, so it's just hours away, but it is eternal."

Belgica Ramirez, Gomez's sister-in-law, said she could imagine how they will all want to embrace. "We will just hug him and cry," she said. "Then we plan to do a cookout and celebrate."

[color=red][size=14pt]This is the called the teamwork and great governance.  welco#afd back guys and  sHa_clap4 sHa_clap4 sHa_clap4 to Chile President.
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