Copiapó Mining Accident: 33 Miners Trapped Underground (2010)
On August 5, 2010, a massive cave-in at the San José copper-gold mine in Chile's Atacama Desert trapped 33 miners roughly 700 meters underground. For 17 days, their fate was unknown, until a note taped to a drill bit revealed they were alive—setting off a grueling 69-day rescue operation that became a global media sensation and a testament to human endurance and engineering ingenuity.
The Collapse
The San José mine, located 45 kilometers north of Copiapó in northern Chile, had a troubled safety history when disaster struck on August 5, 2010. A massive section of the mountain collapsed, sending an estimated 700,000 tons of rock crashing down and sealing the main access tunnel. Thirty-three men, ranging in age from 19 to 63, found themselves trapped approximately 700 meters (2,300 feet) below the surface and about 5 kilometers from the mine's entrance via the winding access route. The men retreated to the mine's emergency refuge, a reinforced shelter designed for such contingencies, though it was stocked with only enough food for two or three days under normal rationing. Shift foreman Luis Urzúa quickly organized the group, imposing strict discipline on food distribution—limiting each man to a spoonful of tuna and a sip of milk every 48 hours—to stretch meager supplies. Above ground, rescue teams from the Chilean government, the mining company, and international experts scrambled to locate the men, uncertain whether anyone had survived the collapse at all. Drilling probes were sent down through boreholes in a desperate attempt to make contact with any survivors, while families gathered at the mine site, establishing what became known as 'Camp Hope' to await news of their loved ones trapped in the darkness below.
Did You Know?
The 33 miners became so famous afterward that many were invited to Hollywood, meeting celebrities and even visiting the set of a film; their story was later dramatized in the 2015 movie 'The 33.' Several miners also traveled to England to watch a Manchester United match as honored guests, a stark contrast to their 69 days trapped in darkness.
Contact and Survival
On August 22, 2010—17 days after the collapse—a drill probe finally broke through into the refuge chamber where the miners had taken shelter. When rescue workers pulled the drill bit back to the surface, they discovered a note taped to it, written in red ink, declaring: 'Estamos bien en el refugio los 33' ('We are well in the shelter, the 33 of us'). The message triggered jubilation across Chile and around the world, confirming all 33 men had survived. Once contact was established, rescuers began sending down narrow bore holes fitted with tubes—nicknamed 'palomas' or doves—to deliver food, water, medicine, letters, and even a small video camera. Doctors and psychologists monitored the miners' physical and mental health remotely, while nutritionists carefully designed high-calorie, high-protein meals to help the men regain weight safely after weeks of near-starvation. The miners organized daily routines underground, assigning tasks, maintaining hygiene, and even setting up a schedule for exercise and rest to preserve morale and physical condition. Chilean President Sebastián Piñera personally oversaw the rescue effort, bringing in specialists from NASA, the Chilean Navy, and drilling companies from around the globe. The men's ordeal, compounded by extreme heat, humidity near 90 percent, and total darkness, tested their psychological resilience, but their disciplined cooperation became a remarkable case study in group survival under extraordinary duress.
The Rescue Operation
Rescuing the 33 miners required drilling a shaft wide enough to fit a specially designed capsule through 700 meters of solid rock, an engineering challenge without precedent at that depth. Three separate drilling operations—nicknamed Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C—raced simultaneously using different equipment and techniques, including a modified oil-drilling rig brought in from the United States. On October 9, 2010, the Plan B drill, operated by driller Jeff Hart and his team, broke through to the refuge, completing the rescue shaft. Engineers then reinforced the tunnel and prepared the Fénix 2 capsule, a narrow steel cylinder equipped with oxygen, communication devices, and safety harnesses, to extract the men one by one. On October 13, 2010, the rescue began in earnest. Florencio Ávalos became the first miner brought to the surface shortly after midnight, and over the next nearly 24 hours, each man was slowly winched up through the narrow shaft to an emotional welcome from family, rescue workers, and a global television audience estimated at over one billion viewers. Shift foreman Luis Urzúa, who had maintained order underground throughout the ordeal, emerged last, formally marking the operation's completion. The entire rescue, from breakthrough to the final miner's ascent, took just under 24 hours, and every one of the 33 men survived the 69-day ordeal without a single fatality.