Miners' health issues during 2010 Copiapó mining accident the estimated more than 1 billion people watching the rescue on live television around the world. The San José Mine is about north of Copiapó, in northern Chile. The miners were trapped approximately from the mine entrance. The mine had a history of instability that had led to previous accidents, including one death. The retrieval of the first miner, Florencio Ávalos, began on Tuesday, 12 October at 23:55 CLDT, with the rescue capsule reaching the surface 16 minutes later. Less than 24 hours later, at 21:55 CLDT on 13 October, all 33 miners had been rescued, almost all in good
Miners' survival during 2010 Copiapó mining accident Although the emergency supplies were intended for only two or three days, the miners rationed them and were able to make them last for two weeks, running out just before they were discovered. They consumed “two little spoonfuls of tuna, a sip of milk and a biscuit every 48 hours” and a morsel of peach. The men used truck batteries to power their hard hat lamps for illumination. After his release from the hospital, Mario Sepúlveda said “All 33 trapped miners, practicing a one-man, one-vote democracy, worked together to maintain the mine, look for escape routes and keep up morale.”