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The 2010 Copiapó mining accident occurred when the San Jose Mine near to Copiapó, Chile, collapsed, leaving 32 miners of Chilean nationality and one Bolivian miner trapped inside about 700 metres (over 2000 feet) below the surface. The men were trapped in the mine for 69 days before being rescued. The discovery of the miners and their eventual rescue received global attention, with over 2000 members of the media reporting from the San Jose Mine. Global leaders expressed good wishes for the rescue and congratulations upon its successful completion.
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Political reactions
Chilean President Sebastián Piñera and First Lady Cecilia Morel were present during the rescue, greeting each of the miners individually as they emerged from the mine. Bolivian President Evo Morales was also scheduled to be on location for the rescue but did not arrive in time for the rescue of the trapped Bolivian miner, Carlos Mamani. During a visit to Europe following the rescue, Piñera was offered an audience with Queen Elizabeth II, who extended an invitation at the last minute following the mine rescue. He presented her with a rock from the mine as a gift.
After all the miners were rescued, Piñera gave a speech on location in which he was effusive in his praise of Chile and said he was "proud to be the president of all Chileans." He invoked Chile's recently passed bicentennial celebrations and said the miners were rescued with "unity, hope and faith." He also thanked Chávez and Morales, amongst others for their call for support. He said those who forced the rescue, i.e., those responsible for the collapse of the mine, will be punished, and said there would be a "new deal" with the workers.
The incident generated interest both within Chile and internationally, with the miners being declared heroes by many people. Firestations rang sirens across Chile in celebration after the final rescue. In Copiapo, thousands of people cheered, danced and wept during the rescue as people chanted "Long live Chile."
The rescue operation was broadcast live on various news networks and international media. The reaction from world media was enthusiastic, and the rescue made the front pages of newspapers worldwide: not only was the rescue from the greatest depth of any such operation ever, but the miners had waited to be found – let alone rescued – longer than any other survivors who had ever been in their predicament.
The rescue of the miners led to Russian bloggers asking why their country did not have a similar success story after a string of tragedies.
The last Russian mining catastrophe in May 2010 took the lives of 90 miners and rescue workers at the Raspadskaya mine near Mezhdurechensk, in southern Siberia, with safety breaches blamed for the disaster.
"The miner rescue operation is completed in Chile, greatly helped by the fact that (Russian Emergencies Minister) Sergei Shoigu did not participate in it," wrote blogger xeyrulla on his LiveJournal blog.
President Dmitry Medvedev said in a message to his Chilean counterpart Sebastian Pinera that the operation is "proof that any, even the most difficult challenges can be successfully overcome by the will and courage of people united by the same goal".
Escape capsules and shelter facilities were discussed in China after the news was released of the 33 Chilean miners being pulled to safety. An underground mine rescue chamber is believed to have played a key role. Luo Lin, head of the State Administration of Work Safety, made the remark at a meeting in Henan province after a gas leak killed 37 miners there. Mines in China were to have underground escape capsules and other emergency facilities by 2015, according to a previous administration work schedule.
The Changcun coal mine, which belongs to Shanxi's Lu'an Group, has been equipped with 16 underground escape capsules and seven shelter rooms. It was China's first mine with such safety facilities, China Youth Daily reported over the weekend. The capsule is a steel structure measuring 6.3 meters by 1.4 meters by 1.8 meters and can withstand the impact of a gas explosion. It has its own oxygen supply, air purifier and air conditioner and can keep 12 miners alive for 96 hours, according to the report.
A number of foreign leaders contacted Piñera to express solidarity and pass on congratulations to Chile while the rescue efforts were ongoing, including the Presidents of Argentina, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner; Colombia Juan Manuel Santos; Venezuela, Hugo Chávez; Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva; Peru, Alan García; Uruguay, José Mujica and Poland, Bronisław Komorowski, and Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, David Cameron, and of Spain, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
Leaders including United States President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Pope Benedict XVI offered congratulations to the coordinators of the rescue attempt and also to the miners themselves for their bravery. Cameron said during Prime Minister's Questions at the House of Commons:
President of the United States Barack Obama telephoned Piñera to pay tribute to the miners, rescue workers, the government and the Chilean nation. UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon spoke to Pinera the day after the rescue. His spokesman Martin Nersirsky said:
South African President Jacob Zuma said:
Media coverage
The government provided exclusive non-stop television coverage of the rescue, available for free to broadcasters around the world. The contract was won by state-owned television station TVN, which deployed a team of 45 people. The government signal offered live views from inside the mine as the rescue capsule reached its destination.
The rescue was among the most-watched video streams of all time, according to internet monitors. Chile's state broadcaster TVN reported that more than a billion people watched the rescue on television around the world. Internet monitor Akamai said overall web traffic was 20 per cent higher than normal around the time the first Chilean miner was rescued late Tuesday, while the company's Net Usage Index for News indicated that the Chilean mine rescue was the fifth most-read-about online news event since the service began in 2005. According to a study from University of Navarra, Spain, this story had a far greater impact in the world's media than Chile's other big news story of 2010 - the massive earthquake in the south of the country in February.
As the rescue begun, the number of relatives swelled to 800 - but was quickly dwarfed by around 2,000 media employees who arrived from around the world to cover the event. Don Francisco, a Chilean TV host, broadcast live from the site, saying "I haven't seen so much media attention since the Apollo XI back in 1969."
During the course of the rescue operation, around 2000 members from the international media were based on location at Camp Hope (Campamento Esperanza) close to the San Jose Mine. Reporters came from all over the world including such far flung places as Yemen, Iran, Russia, Finland, China, North Korea, and Japan. It was estimated that a global television audience of around 1 billion people witnessed the rescue of Florencio Ávalos, the first miner to be lifted out of the ground. The rescue made the front pages of newspapers worldwide.
International participation
A large number of governments and corporations across the globe joined in the effort to find, sustain and recover the trapped miners.
Governments
Chile:
USA:
Corporate
ChileContributions to the miners
A mining company gave the waiting families jackets to protect them against the frigid desert night. This act started a trend, as both private donors and state agencies committed to helping the miners and their kin, especially after they were found alive. Phone companies donated free mobile phone calls to families, workers, and reporters at the mine site and the government installed a Wifi network. Fishermen from the country's south delivered thousands of fish fillets. Clowns and singers came and performed for the families, in an effort to keep spirits up. A beauty clinic in the nearby town of Copiapó provided the miners' wives with makeovers.
Social impact
Book and movie deals are currently in the works, in reaction to the accident and successful rescue. The first of several books - "Under the Earth: The 33 Miners that Moved the World" - is about to be published. Another book that will focus on the rescue in Chile, is called "33 Men, Buried Alive: The Inside Story of the Trapped Chilean Miners", a book by The Guardian contributor Jonathan Franklin, due for publication in the U.K. in early 2011.