In the remembered mining accident, there were two workers with ties in the O’Higgins region.
A little more than 10 years ago, the eyes of the world were placed on the vicinity of the San José mine, in the Atacama region, because during the day of August 5, 2010 a group of 33 miners were trapped in the depths of the desert, after a resounding landslide was generated while they were carrying out extraction works.
The serious mining accident caused a real commotion among families and close friends due to the uncertainty in relation to the state of the workers, a situation that increased with the passing of the hours and days after the unsuccessful searches carried out by various rescue teams, tasks to which the Government even joined through the presence on the ground of the then Minister of Mining, Lawrence Golborne, and President Sebastián Piñera.
However, and after more than 17 days of searching, the arduous drilling work with heavy machinery gave its first fruits when it was possible to extract from the bottom of the earth the remembered paper with red letters that read: “We are well in the refuge. 33 ”, news that was received with joy by Chile and the world when confirming that the workers remained alive at more than 720 meters of depth.
In this way, the rescue operation advanced towards a new phase in which the deployed teams focused on taking care of the miners’ health, which lasted for another 50 days, along with a growing expectation that was followed by the media. of communication, who transmitted live and direct every detail that surrounded the operation.
Finally, a few days after the two and a half months of the work accident, the long-awaited day arrived when the 33 miners began to leave one by one from the bottom of the San José mine with the help of the remembered Fénix capsule, tasks in which The leading role of the member of the El Teniente Rescue Brigade, Manuel González, was fundamental, who was the first to meet the workers face to face and the last to leave the mine.
“The first meeting was a very special moment, because although we had seen them by videoconference through the camera that we lowered to communicate, it was a very great emotion. The miner is generally a very rude guy, and the north is more sacrificed than us here, in that many of them broke down and began to cry, ”explained the former O’Higgins de Rancagua footballer.
“When we were at it, we had all of Chile on our backs, everyone wanted everything to go well and fortunately it was like that, in which we felt like a sense of support, and luckily an excellent logistical job was done by those who were in charge. of us ”, González immediately highlighted.
It was thus that one by one of the 33 miners began to emerge from the heart of the earth through an operation that lasted for hours, and who were received with tears and applause by all those present.
Finally, it should be noted that among those rescued there were two miners with ties to the O’Higgins region: Daniel Herrera, from the Marchigüe commune and who was the 16th miner to leave the mine; and Samuel Ávalos, a native of the Vicuña Mackenna de Rancagua population and who was the 22nd worker to be rescued.
–
