Rescue from the Deep Dark

On October 13, 2010, Luis Urzua emerged into the open air after 69 days trapped over 2,000 ft underground (300 ft deeper than the height of the tallest building in the US). Luis, the shift supervisor, was the last of 33 miners to emerge from a 21 in. diameter capsule which pulled him up to freedom.

On August 5, a “megablock” of stone weighing 770,000 tons had broken free from the mountain, sealing off the miners from the surface. For 17 days, it wasn’t known if anyone had survived. Finally, exploratory shafts found the miners in their refuge, alive, having stretched food meant to last…