33 pit workers blocked underground for 3 months. They can’t escape, they don’t see the daylight, they have to survive together in an hostile place. It sounds like a scientific experience, a thriller or a real TV show? It isn’t. It’s just what happened to Mario Sepulveda Espina, Luiz Urzua Iris barren, Mario Gomez Heredia and their 30 colleagues on the 22nd august 2010, in the north of Chili.
Last august, after the fall of many rocks in the coal mine where they were working, 33 chilian pit workers remained blocked together, without any possibility to go out. At this moment, they didn’t know if they had any chance to stay alive, and nobody on the surface were able to say if they were really alive.
700 meters under earth, they couldn’t be heard or seen, and the only solution for the technical team was to send a sonde and check their estate. Whereas the mines minister Laurence Golborne had announced that there was a few chances to find them alive, The message the pit workers then sent reassured the families, the company, the government, the medias and a great part of the country which got involved in this unexpected story:
“We are fine, all of the 33, in the refuge.”
These simple words were the beginning of a real saga (epic) the Medias and people all around the world got passionate for.
As soon as this information was known, many professional worked on the way to help the “prisoners” to escape. And the expectations were scary: It was necessary to dig a tunnel, it would have the dimension to able a man to go through: 70cm, and must have been long enough to meet the workers, 700 m under earth. It would take around 3 months, if no technical problem occurs. So the workers would miss the national day in 18 September, but not Christmas, the technical team promised.
Of course, the risks of such a dangerous situation are easy to guess, but it was important for the rescue team to make sure that all of them could be controlled.
First of all, the natural risks: if a fall of rocks occurred, it could occur again and make the situation worse. But the most important natural danger was an earthquake: the Thursday 26th august, at 07h45, a powerful seism scared the workers and their relatives. This phenomenon is not surprising in a region located on the Atacama rift. That’s why seven GPS machines were necessary to supervise the mine.
Then, the human risks are not to disregard: after the euphoria of first contacts, a period of depression was expected, followed by possible conflicts and frustration. Uncertainty, lack of fresh air and daylight, cohabitation in a closed place, lost of time repairs, are stress factors. According to the team of psychologists and “disaster psychiatry”, the most important was to give them light, occupations and routine. A team of NASA was even asked to answer to questions about claustrophobia and close-place relationships.
So, how to keep them in a good mood? Firstly, enabling them to communicate with their families by messages and videos. Then, supplying them with good food and drinks. Afterwards, simulate the daylight with specialized machines and separating the live space in some zones. Eventually, creating a routine, by organizing many activities for them, from 07h30 to 23h00 (in three groups): meals, prayers, gym, courier, education (singing, medical care, interview technique to be able to answer to the press).
Obliged to overcome a situation they didn’t expect, the pit workers became little by little modern heroes, symbol of a difficult way of life, and responsible for the creation of a real saga.
Thus, all the elements of a dramatic film are in:
1) Pit workers blocked under earth
2) Families which are expecting for their father, husband or brother
3) Images of their burden broadcast on the TV all around the world.
It was enough to turn this story in media and political issue.
Like in all the epic stories, a villain is necessary. And as soon as the first rescue day, all the press got involved in the disaster and asked the questions that company which owns the mine and government may have preferred to overshadow. Who is responsible of the fall? What were the working conditions of the workers? Did the company respect all the security rules? In a nutshell, could the fall have been avoided?
The San Esteban company was pointed out: before the disaster, it appeared that it was to give up it activity, because of lack of money. It was even unable to pay the incomes of the pit workers. Given that the past events, its responsibility in the situation seems to be easy to find: the 18 july , after a grave accident, the mine was closed up. Furthermore, last June, the Chilean association of security had informed the company that risks of fall were high. The reopening of the mine, without any control, had been considered as too fast and unwise. So if these pieces of information don’t really represent evidences, it enables to have strong suspicion of professional mistakes.
Then, like in all the epic stories, heroes must be idealized and adulated. And what is better to idealize than touching and lovely stories? Like the one of this young man, Esteban Rojas, that was supposed to be in a day off when the fall occurred, and took advantage of a message to ask his girlfriend, Yesica Yanez, to marry him. This 22nd august, they must have been together, but the destiny decided to challenge them and change the story. Or the story of Esperanza’s birth, while her father, Ariel, is still blocked under earth. All the pit workers were turned into real heroes by the Medias, really excited by this tragical story.
Eventually, unlike in all the epic stories, the end is not tragic neither surprising. The pit workers were rescued on the 13th October 2010, after 22h of work from the rescue team. What happened afterwards to the workers? They met their families, their friends, and their life, with a little different detail: turned out into heroes for 2 months, they became an important subject of curiosity for Medias which didn’t stop to interview them. Once again, the “villain” was pointed out.
Indeed, some workers claimed that they had asked to go out three hours before the fall, because of suspicious noises in the mine. Now, the epic story seems to end up, and let another kind of story be told, a polemical story about the working conditions of pit workers in chili and all over the world, and the way they are treated, the way they are exploited.
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