Copiapo, Chile: The Chile miners’ rescue mission was completed as all 33 miners, who had been trapped underground for 69 days, were rescued. This was perhaps the most dramatic and most watched rescue operation ever. The entire world hooked to the miraculous survival story of the miners.
On the ground awaited a warm welcome for the men who have survived underground for the longest time ever by family and friends and even the Chilean President.
It's been one the world's most challenging, dramatic, long-drawn and most watched rescue operations with the miners being pulled up one by one in a rescue capsule. The miners were trapped 600 metres underground after the San Jose mine they were working in collapsed on August 5.
Different reactions from different men today in Chile, as miners are brought-- one by one-- to the surface. The men spent more than two months deep underground and all have something remarkable in common.
It's probably impossible to overstate just how significant it is that these miners have been coming up looking so good, looking so healthy, smiling. If one had to characterize the medical planning of this rescue, it's really that no stone has been left unturned.
There were previous missions where miners just for a few days even, trapped, have come up extremely debilitated. Two and a half months now these miners have been underground and all sorts of different things have been dealt with -- the hot conditions, the humid conditions, miners who had pre-existing illnesses, the lack of food initially, the lack of water-- and yet still, because of the planning, because of the meticulous preparation, these miners have come up looking terrific.
When coming up through the shaft for the mission itself, the rescue mission, one has to make sure something terrible doesn't happen, someone doesn't have a fainting episode or pass out. So, it is ensured that you're giving enough fluids so the heart continues to pump blood through the body-- but not give too many fluids, otherwise it could impede breathing.
One small example, one of the miners having significant problems with the lungs, even beforehand, due to black lung. So, one has to ensure he doesn't receive any more particulates into his lungs, no debris, so a large face mask placed. Medical triage is pretty consistent afterwards. Checking the airways, checking the breathing, checking the circulation, that's to be done in the field hospital and then off to a larger hospital for more advanced testing.
And again, just remarkable, in terms of just how good these miners looked, up to date, and again that medical triage really speaks heavily to that.
Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama said the ongoing rescue of the Chilean miners is "a tribute not only to the determination of rescue workers and the Chilean government but also the unity and resolve of the Chilean people who have inspired the world."
Obama was among millions around the world watching on television on Tuesday night when the first of 33 miners were hoisted to the surface after a two-month ordeal.
Earlier Pope Benedict the 16th sent out a message of hope for the miners. Pope Benedict XVI: "I continue to entrust to your divine goodness, with hope, the miners of the Atacama region in Chile..." Many thanks and may God bless you."
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