The final dash to pull the 33 miniers out started Tuesday night. Florencio Avalos, the first miner reaching the surface, was welcomed by his family and President Pinera, as well as hundreds of others among waves of applause, cheers, sirens, and camera spotlights.
After him, came Mario Sepulveda, Juan Illanes, Carlos Mamani,Jimmy Sanchez, Oman Amaya, Juan Ojeda, Caludio Yanez, Mario Gomez, Alex Vega, Carlos Barrios, Victor Zamora, Victor Segovia and Omar Reyada.
The rescue operation ended when foreman Luis Urzua, the last trapped miner, walked out of a four-meter-high steel capsule built by the Chilean Navy that carried him to the ground through a 662-meter shaft. It marked a historic moment in mine rescues.
When Urzua reached the surface, rescue chief Andres Sougarret reported to Pinera immediately, saying "all the rescued miners are in perfect health condition".
When Pinera greeted and talked with Urzua, the miner who had spent 70 days underground said: "I expect this never to happen again in Chile..."