This Week in History! - October 13, 2010
As the world's top producer of copper, Chile operates an enormous mining industry that accounts for more than one-third of its government's income. Producing at such a large scale, however, results in accidents being inevitable. One of the more famous of these instances is the Copiapó Mining Incident, which forced miners stuck underground to survive for a remarkable 69 days before rescue was possible. Today in History - October 13, 2010 - 33 miners of Chilean and Bolivian descent ascended out of the mine that had become their home for almost ten weeks.
CMSE and the Incident
The San José copper-gold mine was operated by the San Esteban Mining Company (abbreviated as CMSE), an entity with a record for tolerating below-average safety conditions at its facilities. Between 2004 and 2010, it received 42 fines for not complying with regulations. After the relatives of a miner who died in 2007 sued the company, it was forced to close the San José mine. CMSE reopened it a year later, despite still falling below standard on multiple safety metrics.
It was these conditions that allowed a collapse to occur on the main ramp in and out of the mine on August 5th, 2010, trapping 33 men 700 metres (2 300 feet) underground. Safety laws mandated that ventilation systems must have ladders in them for emergency purposes, but San José was missing these. Rescuers attempted to reach the workers through the passages regardless, but were unable to continue due to a second collapse on August 7th that blocked them. The situation was too unstable to continue, and it was feared that additional attempts to use the ventilation system would result in more geological movement. As such, another way of reaching the miners needed to be thought of.
Life in the Mines
In the meantime, the workers needed to deal with the pressing issue of survival. Present in the mines were some emergency provisions, but nothing equipped to last through the ordeal that they would be facing. Their emergency shelter was rendered insufficient due to ventilation problems, so they decided instead to house themselves in a tunnel. They organized themselves, setting up areas with different purposes, such as sleep and waste. Eating a small meal every 48 hours out of rations that were meant to last 2 days, the miners lost an average of 18 lbs (8 kg) each. Water was obtained from natural springs and the radiators of accessible vehicles. For 18 days, the trapped men needed to survive with these resources until food and water could be sent to their position starting the 23rd of August.
One of the main aspects of survival in a desperate situation, however, lies not in food, shelter, and the like, but in morale. In order to keep the group together, measures had to be taken to keep the mood sustainable. A one-man, one-vote system was put in place to ensure everyone had a say, and each individual put in effort to help the overall cause of rescue. Mario Sepúlveda, one of the trapped miners, said later: “Each day a different person took a bad turn. Every time that happened, we worked as a team to try to keep the morale up.” Leaders such as Sepúlveda or Luis Urzúa, the shift foreman, stepped up to keep the group calm and collected in the face of adversity. The more senior workers, in particular, helped to support their younger peers.
A video was filmed underground with Mario Sepúlveda serving as the host in order to update the public on the situation. Eventually, he earned the nickname ‘Super Mario’ from local media because of his humour and energy. Keeping the mood positive, Sepúlveda took viewers on a tour of the tunnels they had come to know so well. Updating rescuers on the group’s health, he chose to use the word ‘complicated’, in order to avoid specifics that may cause problems. He maintained that things were looking bright, and that they were waiting for rescue. Towards the end of the video, he led a few members of the group in singing the Chilean national anthem, in order to boost morale and stay connected with their country’s people.
Rescue, At Last
The plan for rescuing the workers involved the usage of multiple drills, dubbed Plans A, B, and C, respectively. On October 9th, much earlier than expected, Plan B was the first to reach its goal, creating an opening that could be used to extricate the miners.
Rescue Operation San Lorenzo, as it was called, involved using a rescue capsule designed by the Chilean Navy with input from NASA to extract the miners one at a time. Before the procedure took place, the miners needed to prepare by switching to a liquid diet rich in nutrients, ingesting aspirin for blood clots, and wearing sunglasses, among other protective clothing. These measures would help protect them from the effects of ascending rapidly and the sudden exposure to sunlight.
The capsule slowly brought the workers to the surface, taking between 9-15 minutes for each trip. The President of Chile, Sebastián Piñera, was present to greet each individual as they exited the pod. When speaking to Luis Urzúa, he stated: “You are not the same after this, and Chile won’t be the same, either.”
Each miner was brought to a field hospital for quick assessments of health, but none were in critical condition. They were all later flown via helicopter to Copiapó hospital for more intensive examinations.
The operation was a success, and much sooner than originally thought. The Plan B drill had fulfilled its duty, and because of it 33 men were brought safely from the caverns underground. Through camaraderie and determination they survived, and it was with camaraderie and determination that around 5.3 million people around the world rooted for their rescue.
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