Miners' survival during 2010 Copiapó mining accident Miners' survival during 2010 Copiapó mining accident The 2010 Copiapó mining accident began as a cave-in on 5 August 2010 at the San José copper-gold mine in the Atacama Desert near Copiapó, Chile. The accident trapped 33 men underground who survived for a record 69 days. All were rescued and brought to the surface on 13 October 2010 over a period of almost 24 hours. After the last trapped miner was winched to the surface, the rescue workers still underground held up a sign before the camera stating “""” (English: “"Mission accomplished Chile"”) to the estimated more than 1 billion
Western Federation of Miners next decade, to the point where it had over two hundred locals in thirteen states. However, a struggle against mine owners in Leadville served to radicalize WFM leadership. Representatives of the Cloud City Miners' Union (CCMU), Local 33 of the Western Federation of Miners, asked for a wage increase of fifty cents per day for all mine workers not already making three dollars per day. The union felt justified, for fifty cents a day had been cut from the miners' wages during the depression of 1893. Negotiations broke down and 968 miners walked out. Mine owners, who had formed a