Miners emerge one by one

**Sjoerd** · 10-13-2010

It will take hours, maybe days, for the remaining miners in Chile to be returned to the surface after more than two months trapped nearly a half mile down.

time since start of rescue: 17:10:28

still under the ground ; 13
rescued ; 20

its coming to a happy end

**DoubleDutch** · 10-13-2010

3 every hour.

**Bombsaway707** · 10-13-2010

SAN JOSE MINE, Chile — Emerging to the joyous tears of their relatives and cries of "Chi! Chi! Chi! Le! Le! Le!", 20 of the 33 trapped Chilean miners have now made the journey from their half-mile-deep dungeon to the surface.

Dario Segovia, 48, was the 20th miner to reach the surface via the "Phoenix" rescue capsule.

The effort has been methodical and free of any significant problems — and on track to finish early, possibly by late Wednesday, officials said.

The miners jubilantly embraced wives, children and rescuers, and looked remarkably composed despite languishing for 69 days in the depths of a mine that easily could have been their tomb. It is the longest anyone has ever been trapped underground and survived.

The anxiety that had accompanied the final days of preparation melted away just after midnight local time when the stoutest of the miners, Florencio Avalos, 31, emerged from the missile-like rescue capsule smiling broadly after his half-mile journey to the surface.

In a din of cheers, he hugged his wife and sobbing 7-year-old son, and then President Sebastian Pinera, who has been deeply involved in a rescue effort that has become a matter of national pride.

It had not been planned for Avalos' family to join rescuers at the opening of the shaft, but young Bairon had other ideas and insisted on being there.

"I told Florencio that few times have I ever seen a son show so much love for his father," Pinera said. "Hopefully the spirit of these miners will remain forever with us ... This country is capable of great things."

Avalos, 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.

An hour later, Mario Sepulveda, 40, the most ebullient of the bunch, was lifted out. He hugged his wife, Elvira, and then jubilantly handed souvenir rocks from his underground prison to laughing rescuers.

"I'm so happy!" Sepulveda yelled, grinning, punching his fist in the air and hugging everyone in sight.

Sepulveda later said he had spent the last 10 weeks "between God and the devil."

"They fought, God won," he added.

Like the wives on the surface who had their hair and nails done for the occasion, the men looked groomed and clean-shaven as they emerged despite spending more than two months deep beneath the surface.