Rescue plans for 2010 Copiapó mining accident An Austrian system of cranes and pulleys designed for the rescue capsule eventually pulled the miners to the surface. But overall, it was widely a Chilean-led team and effort. As one NASA specialist said while visiting early on in the rescue: “The Chileans are basically writing the book.” Rescue plans for 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 left 33 men trapped below ground who survived underground for a record 69 days. All 33 men
Beaconsfield Mine collapse men sang "The Gambler" by Kenny Rogers (the only song they both knew) in order to keep up their spirits, as they waited for successive blasts to occur in the tunnel. At about 5.45PM on 30 April two rescuers, Pat Ball the underground manager and Steve Saltmarsh, mine foreman, breached safety protocols by entering the 925 level, to the rockfall and yelled out. Webb and Russell began yelling "We're in here!" and this was how the rescuers found out they were alive. Later one rescuer found a direct route to the trapped miners, across the rubble in the side tunnel,