SAN JOSE MINE, Chile — One by one, the miners trapped for 69 days in a dungeon that could have been their tomb climbed into a rescue capsule and made a smooth ascent to the surface Wednesday.
By midday, 16 men had been pulled from the mine in just under 13 hours, including the oldest and youngest among the trapped. The effort was methodical and free of any significant problems, and on track to finish before sunrise Thursday.
No one in recorded history has survived as long trapped underground as the 33 men. For the first 17 days after 700,000 tons of rock collapsed around them Aug. 5, no one even knew whether they were alive. In the weeks that followed, the world was transfixed by their endurance and unity.
Mine rescue
Live footage of the rescue is available http://video.ap.org…">herehttp://www.arkansas…" onclick="window.open(this.href,'popup','height=615,width=765,scrollbars,resizable'); return false;">Interactive: Trapped undergroundhttp://www.arkansas…">Order of miners' rescue
As it traveled down and up, down and up, the rescue capsule was not rotating as much inside the 2,041-foot escape shaft as officials expected, allowing for faster trips, Health Minister Jaime Manalich said. The rescues came as quickly as 36 minutes apart.
Read tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
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