Rescued Chile miners recover & face celebrity

From www.rte.ie/news

Thursday, 14 October 2010

Chile's 33 newly rescued miners are recovering from their ordeal and pondering the celebrity status they have gained following more than two-months trapped deep underground.
Most of the miners were found to be in decent health despite being stuck in a collapsed mine tunnel since 5 August.
The men are resting in a hospital after being hoisted to the surface in a rescue operation watched by hundreds of millions worldwide. One of the miners had pneumonia and was being treated with antibiotics.
In a complicated but flawless operation under Chile's far northern Atacama desert, the miners were hauled out one-by-one through 625m (2,050ft) of rock in a metal capsule little wider than a man's shoulders.
With much of the world transfixed by the rescue, celebrations erupted in Chile. The miners set a world record for survival underground and were welcomed as national heroes.
It took less than 22 hours from the time the first miner was brought to the surface until the last one was pulled to freedom late yesterday.
About 2.5 hours later, the last of six rescuers who had gone down the shaft to help the miners get out also emerged from the gold and copper mine, and the operation was complete.
Despite the suffering they went through, and the emotional stress some will still face, the previously unknown miners could now have plenty to look forward to if they take up the offers open to them.
Among a flood of invitations and gifts, Real Madrid and Manchester United have invited the miners -- many of whom are avid soccer fans -- to watch them play in Europe.
A flamboyant local singer-turned-businessman has given them $10,000 each, while Apple boss Steve Jobs has sent them all a latest iPod and a Greek firm has offered an islands tour.
Most of the miners are unlikely to return to their old employment, with various job offers, advertising deals, and book and film contracts coming their way.
President Sebastian Pinera, whose popularity has risen over his handling of the crisis, was at the San Jose mine to greet each man as he emerged and plans to host them at his palace in the capital Santiago.
'I hand the shift over to you and hope this never happens again,' the last miner out, Luis Urzua, told Mr Pinera.
President Pinera was due to visit the miners today at the hospital in Copiapo, where they are being kept in dim lighting to help their eyes adjust after spending so long deprived of natural light.
Some of the miners' relatives who remained overnight at 'Camp Hope', the tent settlement they have lived in near the mine's mouth over the past two months, also prepared to head to Copiapo to join their loved ones.
Church bells and car horns sounded across Chile in celebration.
When the mine caved in on 5 August, the men were all thought dead in yet another of Latin America's litany of mining accidents. But rescuers found them 17 days later with a bore hole the width of a grapefruit.
That tiny hole became an umbilical cord used to pass hydration gels, water and food to keep them alive until a bigger space could be bored to bring them up.
Mining is a crucial part of the Chilean economy and has played a central role in Latin America.
The rescue process -- via a metal capsule named Phoenix after the mythical bird that rose from the ashes -- will do no harm to the reputation of Chile, which is already a model of economic stability and an investors' favourite in Latin America.
But the mine collapse that so nearly ended in disaster has also highlighted continuing problems in the industry.
'I hope this serves as a lesson so that things change in Chilean mining,' said Manuel Gonzalez, the last rescuer to emerge after the operation. 'I hope this never happens again.'