25th Miner Rescued in Chile as World Cheers

(Oct. 13) -- More than two-thirds of the 33 miners trapped half a mile under the Chilean desert for a record-breaking 69 days have emerged to fresh air, tearful hugs from their families and the nation's president, and jubilation from around the world.

Renan Avalos, 29, became the 25th worker rescued from the mine. Avalos is a younger brother of the first miner, Florencio Avalos, to ascend up to the surface in the escape capsule.

Yonni Barrios, 50, who became the focus of international attention when it was discovered that he had both a wife and a mistress, was the 21st miner freed. Barrios had asked both women to be on hand to greet him, but the wife refused. The mistress, Susana Valenzuela, welcomed him with a heartfelt embrace.

In Washington, President Barack Obama hailed the miners' rescue.

"Last night the whole world watched the scene at Camp Esperanza as the first miner was lifted out from under more than 2,000 feet of rock and then embraced by his young son and family," Obama said this afternoon at the White House. "And the tears they shed after so much time apart expressed not only their own relief, not only their own joy, but the joy of people everywhere. It was a thrilling moment, and we're hopeful those celebrations duplicate themselves throughout the rest of day."

News media in China, where more than 1,500 die in mining accidents each year, celebrated the good news out of Chile. The Xinhua news agency called the rescue "a miracle," and People's Daily made note of the fact that a special crane used in the operation was made in China, The New York Times reported.

Early Wednesday, Florencio Avalos, 31, was the first miner to be rescued. His sobbing 7-year-old son, Bairon, threw his arms around him in one of the many iconic images of celebrations of the miners' perseverance, which quickly became a national symbol for Chile and a global media obsession.

"I told Florencio that few times have I ever seen a son show so much love for his father," Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said, according to The Associated Press.

Wearing sunglasses to protect his eyes, Avalos was freed shortly after midnight, ascending in a 28-inch-wide escape capsule painted with Chile's red, white and blue colors, and named Phoenix for a mythical bird that rises from ashes. Horns blared across the Atacama desert in darkness as the capsule finally reached the manhole-sized opening, to cheers of "Chi! Chi! Chi! Le! Le! Le!" Avalos climbed out and hugged his two sons and wife, then Pinera, and gave a thumbs up before boarding an ambulance for medical checks.

The de facto deputy chief of the miners, Avalos was chosen to be rescued first because he's in the best health and able to troubleshoot glitches along the harrowing pathway up. There appeared to be none. He was followed an hour later by fellow miner Mario Sepulveda, who emerged with his physical strength -- and sense of humor -- intact. He jumped up and down, pumped his arms and led a crowd of onlookers in a chant for Chile. Then while being hauled away on a stretcher, he asked his wife, "How's the dog?" and handed out rocks as joke souvenirs to his rescuers.

The Chilean newspaper Las Ultimas Noticias splashed his picture on its front page under the headline "Super Mario."

Speaking to reporters, he turned serious: "I've been near God but I've also been near the devil," Sepulveda said, according to The Daily Telegraph. "They fought but God won."

Smiling alongside his son, Sepulveda told the crowd that people who do dangerous work should remember their relatives. "Please call them," he said. "Love is the most wonderful thing that there is -- the love of your parents and your family."

Next came Juan Illanes, then the sole Bolivian citizen among them, Carlos Mamani, who yelled "Gracias Chile!" and kissed his wife, Veronica, so forcefully her hardhat fell off.

The first four miners were flown by helicopter to a nearby hospital for medical checks, just as a fifth miner and the group's youngest, 19-year-old Jimmy Sanchez, emerged. "I have suffered much," he wrote in a recent letter to the mother of his 4-month-old baby, excerpted by The Daily Mirror. "In the toughest times, I thanked God I had a daughter."

Osman Isidro Araya came out sixth, followed by Jose Ojeda, who displayed a Chilean flag autographed by the miners, and Claudio Yanez, the eighth miner, a man with diabetes who was greeted by his longtime girlfriend, who had proposed to him while he was trapped. Yanez was the first to surface in the sunlight and gave a long thumbs up before he was carried away on a stretcher.

The ninth to surface was Mario Gomez, who at 63 is the oldest of the group and a mining veteran of 37 years. He gave a double thumbs up, then displayed the Chilean flag before tearfully embracing his wife. He then kneeled in prayer. Gomez was followed by Alex Vega, 31.

Congratulations are flowing into Chile from around the world. The White House issued a statement saying President Barack Obama's "thoughts and prayers are with the brave miners, their families, and the men and women who have been working so hard to rescue them," CNN reported. "While that rescue is far from over and difficult work remains, we pray that by God's grace, the miners will be able to emerge safely and return to their families soon."

The remaining miners are still more than 2,000 feet below the surface, in a chamber where temperatures have soared to 100 degrees and extreme humidity has scarred many of them with lesions and exacerbated high blood pressure and health problems. About 10 of the miners are suffering from hypertension, diabetes, dental and respiratory infections.

The men are wearing special chest straps designed for astronauts, to monitor their heartbeats, blood pressure and oxygen intake while they ascend the claustrophobic shaft, the BBC reported. They can't be sedated and need to stay alert in case of falling rocks or other calamities. The capsule can be accelerated to rise about 3 yards per second if something goes wrong.

After days of practice runs and tests, the miners' rescue began late Tuesday when an expert from Chile's state copper company, Manuel Gonzales, was lowered into the mine shaft -- making a sign of the cross over his chest before disappearing into the earth. He was followed by a navy special-forces paramedic, Roberto Ros, who'll evaluate the miners' health and have final say on the order in which they're rescued. The whole process could take 36 hours.

"We made a promise to never surrender and we kept it," Pinera told reporters.

"It's extremely exciting for us. ... It's a very emotional moment," Jeff Hart, one of the lead drillers assisting in the rescue effort, told CNN. "We worked real long and hard ... and to actually see the capsule come through the first time through the hole that we drilled was just unbelievable."

As of now, the last miner slated to emerge is Luis Urzua, a 54-year-old shift foreman who's been credited with keeping the men sane in those first harrowing days after 700,000 tons of rock collapsed their copper mine on Aug. 5. They made 48 hours' worth of food rations last 17 long days, when they had no contact with the outside world and had no idea about efforts to reach them. Rescuers finally managed to bore a narrow hole down into their chamber, and funnel down more food and supplies.

For nearly two months that tube became the miners' lifeline, through which they received supplies and sent up love letters to their wives and girlfriends. A video link was even set up to allow them to watch live soccer matches.

The 33 Chilean miners are believed to have survived longer underground than anyone ever before.

"The day has finally arrived," Marta Mesias, the aunt of miner Yanez, told The New York Times. "We're going to toast him with champagne, and feed him a bit of roasted chicken."