ABC Student News: International News

Chilean miners RESCUED!

Santiago, Chile, October 14^th- After more than two months of being buried under the Chilean desert, the last of the 33 trapped miners was pulled to safety, ending with what seemed to be an everlasting ordeal faster than anyone expected.

By: Gerardo Blandón.

At 9:56 p.m. (local time), Luis Urzua, the miner’s shift commander, who with his fellow workers survived since the past October 5^th entombed 700 metres under a Chilean mine, was rescued last and brought to the surface of ‘Esperanza (Hope)’ Camp. As the miner’s chief who demonstrated great leadership skills for the 17 agonizing days it took for rescuers to reach them, Urzua was received at the top with interminable applauses and jubilant cheers.

“We have done what the entire world was waiting for," he told Chilean president Sebastian Piñera right after being rescued. “The 70 days that we fought so hard were not in vain.”

Urzua, as well as his fellow miners, thanked Mr. Piñera and the drilling mining companies for making the rescue possible, yet the whole Chilean community expressed their gratitude to Urzua for having been such a great captain whilst the workers were trapped underground, always being  protective of his fellow miners.

As the news spread that the last miner was finally rescued, various presidents of Latin-American countries and from all over the world managed to contact President Piñera to congratulate him for the success of the rescue.  Such stunt will go down in history and hopefully serve as a lesson to mining companies on a global scale to give more protection to their miners.

Written by: Gerardo Blandon