The miraculous news of survival came scrawled in red paint on a shred of paper tied to a drill boring 2,300 feet underground.
“The 33 of us in the shelter are well.”
And with the astounding declaration, a nation breathed a collective sigh of relief yesterday that 33 miners trapped underground for 17 days in a gold and copper mine in Northern Chile were alive.
“We are overjoyed at the news,” said a jubilant President Sebastian Pinera, waving the note before a bank of TV cameras.
“Today all of Chile is crying with excitement and joy.”
As Pinera spoke, drivers honked horns in the capital Santiago and diners applauded in restaurants.
“It will take months” to get them out, he cautioned. “It will take time, but it doesn’t matter how long it takes to have a happy ending.”
A miner identified as Mario Gomez sent a separate note to his wife confirming their underground location.
“We never, never lost faith. We knew they were there, and that they would be rescued,” said Eduardo Hurtado, a relative of another trapped miner.
The miners are huddled 4.5 miles inside a winding mine tunnel and about 2,300 feet straight down.
Rescuers had tried seven times before to reach them, last missing the target Thursday.
The shelter where they’re huddled is about the size of a small apartment, and food is limited, authorities said.
But loved ones hugged, kissed, waved Chilean flags, cheered and thanked God as news of the miners’ survival reached them outside the entrance to the mine where they have waited for word since a cave-in Aug. 5.
Rescuers plan to send narrow plastic tubes called “doves“ down the narrow borehole with food, hydration gels and communications equipment.
In the meantime, hundreds of workers — using equipment from the US and Australia — will dig a new shaft to enable the trapped men to escape.
It’s expected to take months.
With Post Wires