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
Miners' survival during 2010 Copiapó mining accident speak the truth and believe in democracy,” said Urzúa. “Everything was voted on ... We were 33 men, so 16 plus one was a majority.” With the honor of beleaguered ships’ captains over the ages, 54-year-old Urzúa was the last man out after 70 long days trapped below the Atacama desert. Following the collapse of the mine on 5 August, the leader dispatched men to find out what had happened and see if it was possible to escape but they could not find an exit route. “We were trying to find out what we could do and what we could