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Were you glued to your TV watching the rescue of the Chilean miners? I was! It was amazing! The story of their survival and rescue is inspirational, and I was so impressed at how well organized the rescue operation was!

In English, Chile is pronounced exactly like the adjective ‘chilly’: / ‘tʃI.li /. People from Chile are Chilean / tʃI.’leI.ən /. Chilean is the adjective used to describe anything and anyone from Chile.

On Aug. 5th, 33 miners were trapped underground when a landslide caused a tunnel in the mine to collapse. More than 700,000 tonnes of rock blocked the entrance to the mine. The cave-in happened about 500m (m=metres) underground, and the miners were trapped 700m underground. The 33 miners were all together because it was their lunch break. They were eating lunch in an emergency shelter when the collapse occurred. It was a copper and gold mine called the ‘San José’ mine. In English, ‘San José’ = Saint Joseph. The mine is located in the Atacama desert, near the town of Copiapo in northern Chile.

Almost immediately after the cave-in, rescue efforts began. No one knew if the men were alive. Large drilling machines starting boring holes into the ground in an effort to find the men. On Sunday, Aug. 23rd, one of the miners tied a note to a drill bit (the end of a drill) that had reached the miners in an underground shelter. It was the first sign that the miners were alive.

Sixty-nine days after the cave-in, the miners were finally rescued. Each miner was brought up to the surface in a capsule. The capsule was pulled to the surface by a huge winch. Each miner was attached to the capsule in a harness. All the miners and rescuers were wearing hardhats to protect their heads.

Families and friends of the trapped miners camped out on a rocky hillside near the mine. They lived there the entire time the miners were trapped underground. They called it ‘Camp Hope’!

Mining is a very important industry in Chile – according to the CIA WorldFactbook, 30% of government revenue comes from copper mining alone.

More Reading:

Photo Gallery: Trapped Chilean Miners Underground (National Post)
http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/08/23/photo-gallery-trapped-chilean-miners-underground/

Iron discipline that saw the 33 through (The Independent)
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/iron-discipline-that-saw-the-33-through-2105631.html

Chile: First rescued miners to leave hospital
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11547889

The story behind the Chilean miners’ Jesus T-Shirts (CNN Religion Blog)
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/10/14/the-story-behind-the-chilean-miners-jesus-t-shirts/