In the end, they made it all look so easy.
After the nervous final moments of preparation, the delay caused by the last-minute trial runs of the rescue capsule Phoenix 2, we at the camp and a billion viewers across the world breathed a sigh of relief with the emergence of the first miner from his subterranean prison.
In different time zones across the world, people were waking up to the news that the rescue had started, or going to bed relieved that it had all begun successfully. Back in London, my cousin John couldn't sleep and came back down to switch on the TV. He stayed up the rest of the night, captivated, like millions of others, by the extraordinary images.
Extraordinary. Remarkable. Unprecedented. All words that are going to get over-used in the next few days.
But how else can you describe the Chilean rescue operation? Nobody has ever been trapped so deep for so long before. And everything was captured on camera.
NOVA's "Emergency Mine Rescue" will air on PBS on October 26, 2010. Here, the NOVA film crew, with Nick Evans at far left, outside their "hotel" at the San Jose mine. Posing with them, in the pink shirt, is Carola, wife of miner Raúl Bustos.
After the nervous final moments of preparation, the delay caused by the last-minute trial runs of the rescue capsule Phoenix 2, we at the camp and a billion viewers across the world breathed a sigh of relief with the emergence of the first miner from his subterranean prison.
In different time zones across the world, people were waking up to the news that the rescue had started, or going to bed relieved that it had all begun successfully. Back in London, my cousin John couldn't sleep and came back down to switch on the TV. He stayed up the rest of the night, captivated, like millions of others, by the extraordinary images.
Extraordinary. Remarkable. Unprecedented. All words that are going to get over-used in the next few days.
But how else can you describe the Chilean rescue operation? Nobody has ever been trapped so deep for so long before. And everything was captured on camera.
NOVA's "Emergency Mine Rescue" will air on PBS on October 26, 2010. Here, the NOVA film crew, with Nick Evans at far left, outside their "hotel" at the San Jose mine. Posing with them, in the pink shirt, is Carola, wife of miner Raúl Bustos.
The San José mine rescue turned into the ultimate reality show. The second miner to be released, "Super" Mario Sepúlveda, looked like he'd just won Big Brother as he emerged with rocks in his bag to present to the rescuers. He joked with President Sebastián Piñera and Mining minister Laurence Golborne, ran off to hug members of the rescue team, and led a rousing chorus of the camp song "Chi Chi Chi Le Le Le, Los Mineros de Chile."
Give this man a TV show. They probably already have.
As the sun went down, I sat at the top of the mine area, overlooking the rescue, listening to the shouts of triumph as more miners came to the surface and watching the images on TV with the rest of the world.
Miner number 27, ex-footballer Franklin Lobos. Number 28, Richard Villarroel.
We were waiting for a chat with the President, who was being shuttled in his chauffeur-driven car from the rescue site a few yards up the road to the Presidential tent where we were waiting. News channels from the U.S., U.K., Germany, Japan, and Spain, higher up in the pecking order than humble documentary makers, jockeyed for interviews.
Number 29, Juan Carlos Aguilar. Number 30, Raúl Bustos. Two men who became firm friends in the mine as their wives Cristy and Carola also formed a bond above in Camp Hope.
Between interviews, President Piñera hared off down the hill with a convoy of bodyguards and press assistants. We watched him pop up on the TV screen moments later to greet the next released miner. It was a quicker change than Superman could achieve, as my super sound man Juan commented.
At the start of the rescue, it was taking more than an hour to turn around each release. By the end, it was barely 20 minutes. The Chileans were managing to make the most complicated rescue operation in history look as easy as a rocket ride in a theme park.
The news boys did their bit, and we got bumped off the end of the schedule as the rescue was completed so much quicker than expected -- in 22 hours and 36 minutes.
But I didn't really mind missing my interview with the President. It meant we could go back down to Camp Hope as the celebrations began. Everyone hugged, champagne corks popped, fireworks flew, and red-white-and-blue balloons left over from Chile's bicentenary celebrations drifted off into the night sky.
Campamento Esperanza. Camp Hope. Fulfilled.
Editor's note: Stay tuned for final blogs from Nick Evans in Chile...
October 15, 2010 11:07 PM
Awsome!!Everyone thought they would be out by Xmas. What a good rescue what a good result!! Good Stuff. J
October 16, 2010 5:48 PM
Thank god they were rescued however I think this whole think has been beaten to death. Nova/PBS should not be wasting their time and money like the other 200 new casters waiting around in the desert for the people to be rescued. This is getting to be like the OJ Simpson trial.
October 23, 2010 10:35 PM
“Resurrected”
The number 70 shift of the San Jose Mine
Kissed their families goodbye and left them behind
Began the descent, another ordinary day
Digging copper and gold in Copiapo, Chilé
Thirty three miners stopped to break bread
Trapped by a cave-in, 17 days dead
No hope left, families left grieving
Still men of faith persevered, trusting, believing
All efforts toward rescue, sparing no cost
If even a remote chance to try to save the lost
Short of food and water, two thousand feet of rock
An impossible task, a ticking clock
A note in a bottle (or maybe a prayer)
“All 33 of us are well,
Inside the shelter”, a nation rejoiced
The president of Chilé made the right choice
Heroes emerged, volunteering with a will
NASA designers, the Chilean Navy, a Pennsylvania drill
Luis organized the buried, setting out a plan
Whatever was required, agreed down to a man
A baby named Hope, Esperanza was born
Keeping faith alive, 69 days ‘til morn
October 13, 2010, their new life begun
The first and the last would again see the sun
Men thought dead, rising from a tomb
Resurrected, alive from what seemed certain doom
What a story is told by good men put to the test
Bravo, Chilé and the miners, may God bless your faithfulness
Written by:
MBC, KY. USA