The dramatic rescue of 33 miners from the San Jose mine in Copiapo, Chile is significant not just for the Chilean nation but for all mankind.
In what bears an uncanny similarity to the disaster and glorious rescue of Apollo 13 - bringing the stricken spacecraft back from space to the earth, the Chilean mine rescue episode is also a saga of how the human spirit forged a strong bond with the human brain, in this case - to bring to the surface, 33 men who had endured an unimaginable ordeal trapped in the bowels of Mother Earth under the Atacama desert.
Considering the equal penchant the human mind has for brilliant life-saving inventions and destructive intentions, its the incidences that serve the cause of the former that truly glorify human potential - the potential to unite, to summon the latent reserves of resilience, to join forces and to work with a single-minded focus on enabling the survival of and saving a fellow human being.
That potential was on display in full force for the 69 days the miners were trapped underground. People, Companies and even Countries came together to work out a means of keeping hope - and the miners – alive and bring them back up to the surface. The mining industry pooled together its expertise and talent – A Canadian company moved in a special drill, one of only five worldwide, from another mine, a drill bit from a US company was attached to it to bore down a hole through which a Japanese fiber-optic cable facilitating communication could be passed through. A resilient cable brought from Germany was used to lower the rescue capsule for bringing the miners up, which was designed by NASA, which also provided expertise on survival techniques.
The families of the miners set up camp around the mine, enduring the frigid weather of the desert, continuously staying in touch with the miners, giving them hope and cheer. A mining company gave them protective jackets while local authorities made provisions for basic amenities. The government of Chile was also extremely proactive, with the Mining Minister spending time with the relatives and describing rescue efforts. The Health Minister personally supervised the food supply and health monitoring of the miners and the Chilean President also met with the families regularly and kept seeking for assistance and help where it was available.
Perhaps the most important factor was the attitude of the miners themselves – trapped half a mile under the ground in darkness, with limited room and food and an uncertain future, they could have succumbed to feelings of despair, rage, selfishness and hopelessness. Instead they held firm, formed a chain of command, shared meager resources and cheered each other up, supporting each other and sharing a bond that will now last forever.
This unified effort bore fruit shortly after midnight on Oct 13, 2010, when the first of 33 miners emerged from the depths of the mine, into open air, to a rapturous welcome from the expectant crowd. One by one, they all emerged, scripting a glorious finale to a nerve-wracking experience - a story of sheer grit, determination and a never say die attitude that has been the underlying theme of all great events in the history of mankind. It was a moment of triumph for all those engineers, technicians, medical professionals, nutritionists and the human spirit itself.
The frantic search for the miners, the relief on finding them alive, the furious effort to save them and bring them up to the surface, the euphoria surrounding the rescue itself and the exhilaration on seeing the miners come up one by one, and rushing into the arms of their families will be the stuff of folklore for years to come. This episode laid bare the perils of improper management and the dangers of such hazardous occupations but it also showcased the very best of humankind - how, despite the aberrations that we see so often, there are human beings who are willing to give it their all to save other human beings. The rescue of the miners in Chile has, in a sense, vindicated God’s decision to endow humans with the ability to think and has underlined the uniqueness of the species that is Mankind.
Top Gun
