What do you think of this fact?
On August 5, 2010, the main ramp of the San José mine in Chile’s Atacama Desert caved in. Below it: 33 miners, about 700 meters (2,300 feet) inside the mountain. Up top, nobody knew whether anyone was still alive.
A note on a drill bit
The emergency supplies in the shelter were only meant to last two or three days. Rescue teams kept drilling probe after probe into the rock anyway. On August 22, 17 days after the collapse, one drill came back up with a note taped to it: “Estamos bien en el refugio, los 33”, meaning “We are fine in the shelter, the 33 of us.”
A camera lowered through the borehole confirmed it: everyone was alive. From then on, supplies went down narrow tubes nicknamed palomas, “doves.” Each delivery took about an hour to reach the men.
Advice from space
Chile asked NASA how to keep people physically and mentally fit in a cramped space for months. A four-person NASA team of doctors, a psychologist and an engineer spent three days at the site. Their suggestions included extra vitamin D and an organized daily routine with exercise.
NASA also weighed in on the rescue capsule. Its Engineering and Safety Center sent about 75 recommendations for the design. The result was the Fénix: about 4 meters long and only around 54 centimeters wide. Just enough room for one person in a shaft through solid rock.
33 out of 33
The extraction began on the evening of October 12. Florencio Ávalos rode up first, shift supervisor Luis Urzúa last. On October 13, after 69 days underground, all 33 men were safely at the surface.
An estimated 5.3 million people reportedly watched the rescue on the live video stream alone.
One note, one capsule, 33 names on the list of the rescued. Not a single one missing.