From Patrick Oppmann and Karl Penhaul, CNN
October 9, 2010 — Updated 1853 GMT
Copiapo, Chile (CNN) — Anxious family members and exhausted rescue workers reveled in joyful relief after a drill pierced the roof of an underground mine in Chile where 33 men have been trapped since August 5.
Sixty-five days after the mine’s collapse, officials on Saturday announced that the drill had reached the miners as sirens blasted through the mine site to signal the achievement.
What began as a “possible tragedy, with the help of God, is ending as a true blessing,” Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said.
“The miners, their families, the rescue workers, the government and all the Chileans have shown unity, strength, of faith, of hope, that is recognized and admired by the whole world,” Pinera said. “This shows that when Chileans unite for great causes, regardless how grand or ambitious they may seem we are always able to reach our goals and conquer the highest peaks.”
But the moment of pure happiness was shadowed by the fact that it may take hours — possibly days — of hard work and tough decisions before any of the miners can be pulled to safety.
“We have not yet rescued anyone and there is much ground to cover,” cautioned Chilean Mining Minister Laurence Golborne, who also told reporters that the families of the miners “are aware of the process still expected.”
Family members ran downhill, carrying Chilean flags, and a man who is a relative of a miner told CNN en Espanol, “I feel happiness. I feel tranquil — the fear is now gone.”
Raul Lyon, vice president of GeoTech, the company operating the Plan B rescue drill at the scene, told CNN, “I can’t wait to see the first one to come out.”
Lyon said the ordeal has been arduous and emotional for the workers, but “we had patience” and solved problems methodically as they came up.
“it was very exciting and also comforting that we were able to reach the tunnel after exactly 33 days of drilling,” said Lyon, who noted that the miners are “happy” and “in good shape.”
Rescue crews have been drilling three separate wider holes to send down the rescue capsule and hoist the men to the surface. Those rescue attempts have been labeled Plans A, B and C.
Brandon Fisher, owner of the Pennsylvania company that provided and oversaw the use of drilling bits for the Plan B team, felt a “huge sense of relief and joy” and noted that the success wasn’t “in the bag until we were through.”
“This project was unbelievably challenging,” said Fisher, whose company, Center Rock Inc., aided in the rescue of nine miners who were trapped for more than four days after the 2002 collapse of the Quecreek Mine, also in Pennsylvania.
Officials have said the rescue process after the drill breakthrough could begin within three to four days. But mine engineers must decide first whether they need to encase the shaft with steel tubing to prevent rockfalls and further collapses during the extraction process.
Golborne on Friday told reporters that, “If we do a full casing of the hole, those three to four days could go to eight to 10 days.”
One of the rescue coordinators, Rene Aguilar, an engineer for state copper company Codelco, said this week they may encase just the first 100 meters (328 feet) of the shaft, a process that could take just 10 hours.
Before anyone can be rescued, the hole must be widened so that the rescue capsule — dubbed the Phoenix — can land cleanly inside the tunnel without getting hung up on obstructions, Golborne said.
To accomplish that, explosives will be lowered to the miners for use in widening the shaft, said Golborne, who expressed little concern that the subterranean pyrotechnics would pose any danger to the men.
“We have to take into consideration that we are talking here about miners that have experience, many of them are licensed to use explosives, they know how to manipulate them, they have already made the holes that they need to set the right quantities of explosives. … So it will be a very controlled explosion that will be made after we break into the tunnel.”
Then, authorities will lower a doctor and a rescuer into the chamber, Health Minister Jaime Manalich said. Medical and rescue personnel will be in place to start extracting and treating the miners Monday night, he said.
Once the miners have been extracted, they will undergo about two hours of health checks at a field hospital set up at the mine.
Barring complications, it will take about 24 to 36 hours to remove all the miners through the 2,300-foot hole, Manalich said. They will then be flown by helicopter to a hospital in the town of Copiapo — approximately a 15-minute flight.
“You think we were happy, you should have seen those guys,” said Gregory Hall, one of the rescue drill operators, after Saturday’s breakthrough. “They were just going crazy. I mean, imagine, that’s a big step towards coming home. So they were just going crazy. It was wonderful.”
Miners who are healthy enough will be allowed to visit briefly with family members in a reunion area before being taken to the hospital, Manalich said.
Health officials have increased the miners’ physical activity in recent days to gauge how they can handle the stress of being removed, Manalich said.
The overall response has been good, he said, though some miners have exhibited anxiety or have had minor cardiac issues.
The miners have been in contact with the outside world through a small bore hole that sends them food, water, supplies and other necessities.
Pinera said September 19, during his last visit to the site, that he planned to personally hug each of the miners as they were pulled from the rescue shaft. He is due to depart on a government tour to Europe in mid-October.
First lady Cecilia Morel Montes told reporters Friday night that her husband was in the south.
“He has a lot of obligations,” she said. “Undoubtedly, he would like to be here permanently. But he also has to be permanently in a lot of other places and it’s necessary to continue governing.”
She said the crisis faced by the miners has brought Chileans together.
“They have become very familiar to every Chilean,” she said. “All Chileans are equally expectant, equally nervous; there’s a lot of empathy toward the families.”
She added that the men’s liberation will occur “as soon as possible,” but only after every precaution is taken to ensure their safety.
