2010 Copiapó mining accident 2010 Copiapó mining accident The 2010 Copiapó mining accident, also known then as the "Chilean mining accident", began on Thursday, 5 August 2010 with a cave-in at the San José copper–gold mine, located in the Atacama Desert north of the regional capital of Copiapó, in northern Chile. Thirty-three men, trapped underground and from the mine's entrance via spiraling underground ramps, were rescued after 69 days. After the state-owned mining company, Codelco, took over rescue efforts from the mine's owners, exploratory boreholes were drilled, and seventeen days after the accident a note was found taped to a drill bit pulled back
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.”