As the long-trapped Chilean miners emerged one by one from a collapsed mine, the world held its breath and watched in awe.
The rescue, after more than two months, was not only an emotional moment of national pride for Chileans, but a triumph of technology and the human spirit.
And while it seems there may be a lot of criticism to level against lax mining oversight, there also is a lot to celebrate in this saga. The engineering and expertise that came together to cooperate on the rescue have been amazing.
There was, of course, the help from Coloradans in drilling the tunnel that allowed the rescue to begin. Jeff Hart, a 40-year-old Arvada resident, traveled from a job in Afghanistan to Chile to operate a massive drill.
Hart and three other drillers from Colorado, Matt Staffel, Doug Reeves and Jorge Herrera, formed a team that worked together on the emergency project. Our hats are off to them and their employer, Kansas-based Layne Christenson Co., for a job well done.
The technical help didn’t end there.
Twenty NASA engineers brainstormed to design the 14-foot tall rescue capsule, dubbed Phoenix, which ferried the 33 miners, one at a time, to the surface.
The capsule was equipped with an oxygen supply, a communication system, a harness that monitored the occupant’s vital signs and a drop- through escape hatch that would allow a miner to descend back to the bottom if something went wrong.
“NASA is in the business of building unique, one-of-a-kind vehicles,” Clinton Cragg, a NASA engineer, told AOL News. “I thought we could help.”
Help, indeed. Without the brilliantly designed capsule, the rescue might have been substantially delayed.
The admirable actions in this tale also include those of the 33 miners. They realized immediately they were in a bad situation and began rationing food. Each man ate just two teaspoons of canned tuna, a biscuit and two sips of milk every 48 hours.
This went on for 17 days until rescuers at the surface were able to drill a borehole to the space occupied by the men, communicate with them for the first time, and send supplies down.
It was a tense situation in the underground chasm, and that’s not hard to imagine. One of the leaders who emerged, Luis Urzua, is said to have articulated to his fellow miners a choice: They could die separately or work together to give themselves the best chance of rescue.
A culture of la solidaridad, or solidarity, coalesced.
They organized and carried out jobs, such as cleaning living areas, unloading supplies and clearing debris from the rescue tunnels being drilled toward them.
Such presence of mind in miserable conditions, while facing one’s mortality, is admirable indeed. It’s a triumph of the enduring human spirit.
As the world watched the story unfold on laptops, televisions and smartphones, it was inspiring to see what mankind can accomplish against all odds when we all work together.
