33 men were trapped 700m underground for 69 days, battling hunger, thirst and disease in the confined darkness. When they reached the surface safely, they all spoke of a power that kept them going in that dark situation, and all believed that there was a mysterious 34th person who was always with them…
Exactly 10 years after the mine collapse in San José (Chile), the world media said that the rescue of 33 miners trapped 700m deep for more than 2 months was the most miraculous rescue in the history of rescue, moving the whole world.
Warning signs
On the morning of August 5, 2010, like every other day, Jorge Galleguillos, a veteran miner at the San José mine in the northern Chilean desert, bowed his head and made the sign of the cross, expressing his devotion to the Virgin Mary before entering the mine shaft. Most of the miners working there make the sign of the cross before the elevator gradually takes them to a lower level underground.
While working at a depth of 700m, Galleguillos suddenly heard some strange noises, but he continued working. At the same time, he recalled seeing something like “a white butterfly” hovering in the tunnel. But his colleague Franklin Lobos said that it was white rock, quartz that became opaque when exposed to light.
While working at a depth of 700m, Galleguillos suddenly heard some strange noises, but he continued working. (Illustration: Wikimedia Commons)For Galleguillos, what he saw in the dim light of the tunnel was a white butterfly, a white stone, or something else, he was not sure. But in his country's traditional culture, white animals were noble symbols of God's presence.
Like an earthquake
The San José mine is over 100 years old, and has been severely “aged” by a century of “digging and blasting,” which has left its internal structure more fragile than ever. The mine is also known for its rather “primitive” working conditions, and lacks a safety lighting system, including an escape route that is rendered useless in an emergency, due to the lack of stairs needed to get to the surface.
That afternoon, the miners heard an explosion, followed by dust and debris that seemed to be collapsing. At a depth of more than 700 meters, they had no idea that a 45-story building-sized chunk of magma had broken off from the mountain and fallen into the mine below, causing a chain reaction with the force of an earthquake. The walls of the mine began to shake, and rocks the size of oranges fell all around them.
When the shaking stopped, they found themselves trapped in a wall of rock and earth, with everything that could connect them to the ground blocked: exits, electricity, water, gas, communications… The 33 men – not knowing the extent or cause of the devastation – hurriedly moved to a shelter the size of a small room.
When the shaking stopped, they found themselves trapped in a maze of rock and earth, with everything that could connect them to the ground blocked: exits, electricity, water, gas, communications… (geograph.org.uk)There, they found enough food supplies for 25 people to last two days, including a can of salmon, a can of peaches, a can of peas, 18 cans of tuna, 93 packs of biscuits, 10 bottles of water, 24 liters of condensed milk (8 of which were spoiled), and some expired medicines. Luckily, they still had thousands of liters of water to cool the engines in the basement.
In the cramped, dark and damp space, people "imprisoned" in the rocks were forced to learn to adapt to the harsh life underground.
Food was strictly rationed for each person: One biscuit, a spoonful of tuna, and a little water for the only meal of the day at noon. With those few calories, 33 people lasted until noon the next day.
After two weeks underground, there was only enough food left to provide each person with one cookie every two days, then every three days, and at one point, a thumb-sized slice of peach was meticulously divided into 33 small pieces.
Some were sick, some were temporarily blinded by vitamin A deficiency, others had difficulty walking, and all 33 men were ravaged by hunger. But despite their physical devastation, their spirits remained strong.
In the cramped, dark and damp space, people “imprisoned” in the rocks were forced to learn to adapt to the harsh life underground. (Illustration: blog.martelange.ovh)Miracles do exist
The strange thing is that despite the dark, cramped, smelly conditions, despite their physical debility, the miners still held daily prayer meetings. They expressed their unity and sincerity toward God. There was a much higher power that overpowered the ghosts of hunger, death, and madness that haunted the 33 miserable people: Faith.
Galleguillos recounted that even when things got so bad, when food supplies were so low that a tuna had to be divided into 33 pieces, he still felt God's presence.
“You have to have faith, ” Galleguillos recalled. “We were never allowed to lose faith, even in the darkest of times… Faith nourishes you… Faith is life.”
Alex Vega, 31, is a second-generation miner who suffered from stomach ulcers a few months before he was trapped underground. He had to split a pill into four parts, allowing him to take only one part each day. Hunger made Vega's stomach problems worse. But even with the constant pain, Vega never stopped praying to God.
“You have to have faith. We must never lose faith even in the darkest of times… Faith nourishes you… Faith is life.” (Illustration: Pickpik)33 people keep their faith even when there is no hope. Luis Urzua, 54 years old, said he does not believe in luck, but he has Faith. Confined in a small space, in the heart-wrenching hunger, the boundary between Good and Evil in each person is too fragile, but he said: "The devil cannot do anything because God is present beside us".
When one of Luis Urzua’s colleagues fell ill, the other 32 prayed to God, and miraculously, “the next day, he was better. … He recovered better than all of us,” said Luis Urzua. In such dire times, they remained steadfast in their faith.
Miner Jimmy Sanchez sent these lines of faith in letters to the surface: “There really is a 34th person with us, God has never abandoned us here.”
Jimmy Sanchez's messages were reminiscent of the biblical story of the three believers Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who were burned in the furnaces of Babylon, but were unharmed because they saw someone who sent an angel there to protect them.
The biblical story of three believers Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who were burned at the furnace of Babylon, but were unharmed because they saw a man who sent an angel there to protect them. (Wikimedia Commons)The power of prayer has held the miners together for 69 days. “When we pray, we are not praying to be rescued, we are praying that the people outside will not abandon us,” said 26-year-old miner Pedro Cortez.
They played a makeshift chess game, talked to each other and listened to every noise. On the 17th day, Ariel Ticona, 29, suddenly heard the sound of drilling. At that moment, he knew “it was the hand of God creating a miracle.” At the same time, Ariel Ticona did not know that he had become a father, when his newborn daughter was named Esperanza, which means Hope.
On the 17th day at the bottom of the “cave” deep underground, 33 people miraculously survived. Despite being separated by more than 700m of boulders, both the rescuers and the rescued had the same principle that motivated them: FAITH and HOPE.
“No technology can do it, God help us!”
Hope was what kept rescuers going during the first 17 days after the collapse, even when they were uncertain whether there would be any survivors. The miners’ families and Chile as a whole did not give up hope. And global support came, with three international drilling teams, NASA and more than 10 multinational corporations involved.
Hope was what kept rescuers searching for the first 17 days after the collapse, even when they were uncertain whether anyone would survive. (Wikimedia Commons)The Chilean government asked Greg Hall and his team of experts to drill to the site of the collapse. Greg Hall, an American who owns three drilling rigs in Minnesota, Texas and Chile, was behind the rescue of the 33 Chilean miners at a time when they were running out of food.
The biggest challenge for Greg Hall was how to successfully drill the probe to the exact location where the miners had fallen. This was a difficult task because no one knew exactly where it was, and the drilling process would be hampered by hard obstacles such as quartz rock or tunnel walls.
When the drill bit got stuck at a depth of nearly 140m, Greg Hall said: “Every calculation showed that we were beyond the technical parameters.” In that moment, Hall prayed silently, a prayer he would never forget: “I pray to God. There are 33 people down there. We did everything we could. Please help us, God . ”
And miraculously, the drill started moving. For Greg Hall and all the rescuers at the scene, it was a miracle. “We couldn’t do it. God did it all.”
Immediately after praying, strangely, the drill started moving again. (Wikimedia Commons)On August 22, 17 days after the collapse, the drill reached a depth of 700 meters, right at the location where the miners had taken refuge. On behalf of the 33 miners, Luis Urzua placed a piece of paper in the probe to send to the surface: “We, the 33, are fine in the shelter.”
Everyone on the ground couldn’t believe their eyes when the probe picked up the piece of paper that showed life. “It was really God’s hand on us,” said Greg Hall. “All the computer models, the laws of physics, and all the calculations showed that our drill would not hit the target.”
What was perhaps the biggest challenge for Hall and his team was finally getting the probe to the miners' quarters, initiating a supply of food and water through the small tube of the exploratory borehole.
The supplies arrived just in time for the 33 miners, who were starving to death. The supplies included special food for astronauts, medicines including anti-dehydration tablets, and even video cameras.
In the following days, half a mile underground, the 33 miners received supplies of water, biscuits and wine, along with medicine, toiletries and clothes. They chatted with relatives above ground via cameras, enjoyed traditional pasta primavera and watched the Chilean national soccer team on a projector.
But none of them stopped praying, they still maintained regular daily prayer services in the deep, damp cellar.
On the ground, the rescue work was urgently deployed. Three drills, in three different locations, of three international rescue teams operated towards the shelter. On October 10, 2010, the rescue team led by American engineer Jeff Hart successfully carried out the Schramm T-130 “hope drill”, hitting the roof of the shelter, starting a miraculous rescue in the history of rescue.
Setting records in history
Speaking to the media before the rescue began, then-Chilean President Sebastián Piñera said: “We hope that, with God's protection, this rescue mission will end well.”
“We hope that, with God's protection, this rescue mission will end well,” said Chilean President Sebastián Piñera at the time. (Wikipedia)The rescue lasted 22 hours, all 33 miners and 6 rescue workers sent down the shaft were safely brought to the surface. From the time they were trapped until they were rescued, the miners had lived underground longer than any similar incident in the history of mine collapses in the world.
Medical experts assessed the miners’ living conditions as extremely harsh due to the high temperature and humidity. With temperatures always above 32 degrees Celsius and humidity of 92-93% in the mine, their bodies quickly became dehydrated. Furthermore, people could not explain how the 33 people could miraculously survive the first 17 days of losing contact, with food rations for only 24 people and enough for only 2 days.
The rescue took place over 22 hours, and all 33 miners and six rescue workers sent down the shaft were safely brought to the surface. (Wikimedia Commons)
Medical experts say the miners' living conditions are extremely harsh due to the high temperatures and humidity. (Wikimedia Commons)
People cannot explain how those 33 people miraculously survived the first 17 days without contact, with food rations meant for only 24 people and enough for only 2 days. (Wikimedia Commons)
From the time they were trapped until they were rescued, the miners had to live underground longer than any similar incident in the history of mine collapses in the world. (Getty)No rescue has ever been more dramatic or so closely watched. About 1,300 media outlets from around the world gathered at the remote old gold mine in the northern Chilean desert, and more than a billion people watched the fate of the miners trapped underground.
The mission to rescue 33 underground miners at the San José mine was comparable in intensity to the rescue of the crew of the Apollo 13 spacecraft in space in 1970.
Many believe that the miraculous survival of the 33 miners was born from the strength of faith, patience and resilience that God instilled in them.
Source: https://www.ntdvn.net/vu-giai-cuu-ly-ky-nhat-the-gioi-33-tho-mo-mac-ket-o-do-sau-700m-song-sot-than-ky-71322.html
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