Luis Urzua entered the San Jose mine last August as a shift supervisor, intending to command his miners for about 12 hours. Sixty-nine days after a collapse trapped him and 32 others, he’s left as the man whose direction helped keep the group alive.
Urzua, 54, was the last of the 33 miners to be taken out of the mine in a rescue capsule, about a day after the first was rescued. He volunteered to stay in the miners' refuge 2,300 below the surface until all his men were safe.
As shift foreman, Urzua assumed command and control of the underground world that he and 32 fellow miners lived in since the collapse. His instructions to his men in the hours after the collapse - among them, to ration the little food and liquid that they had in a small refuge - are credited with keeping the group alive during the 17 days it took for rescuers to locate them with a probe and start sending them supplies.
He also kept the miners on 12-hour shifts and mapped out the area that was still accessible, dividing the space into work, sleep and sanitary areas, the Guardian newspaper reported.
"[He] is a leader in his field and has been for ages," Dr. Andreas llarena of the Chilean navy told the Guardian in September. "For a miner, their shift leader is sacred and holy. They would never think about replacing him. That is carved in stone - it is one of the commandments in the life of a miner."
Urzua told the Guardian for a story a few days ago that each miner played a part to keep the group functioning while it awaited rescue.
"We had to be strong, all the workers in the mine fulfilled their roles, as journalists, as spokesmen, and we worked hard for our own rescue," Urzua said.
His voice was the first that rescuers heard after verbal contact was made with the trapped miners in August. “We are well and hoping that you will rescue us," he said.
On Wednesday night with the entire world watching, his wish came true.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Thank you CNN for such a great coverage. I almost spent my whole day watching the whole report. The best "reality show" I've ever seen. True journalism, I will remember this the same way I still remember the arriving of the first man on the moon.
Thank you all, viva Chile and all the miners of the world.
Signed:
a Colombian lover of that beautiful part of our world, my dear Chile!!!
What will happen with the remaining things into the mine?? The lights? the camera?? Please somebody tell me!! I'm curious about it!
That was one LOOOOOONG shift.
YAHOOO evrybodys out...why did cnn air that sstupid debate in the middle insteadof covering from beginning to end instead of covering the first and last rescued? Its a momenteous event unlike those 2 arguing
I wish I had a leader like that for my country. Democracy isn't helping much.
Chilean showed to the world how precious life is, did everything to save the 33 miners. Other people do not care about life. They even volunteered to be suicide bombers to kill others. Long live Chile.
he was refering to Michael Moore stupid, not Mikhail Gorbochev, Moore was on Larry King.
I wonder how long it's going to be before Family Guy weaves this into one of their episodes...[Peter after locking himself IN his car] "This is just like that time I was stuck in that mine down in Chile..."
You know you can do more with your life, right?
Read my latest blog post: "SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO ROLL THE DICE."
http://adrianzupp.blogspot.com/2010/10/sometimes-you-have-to-roll-dice.html
Take care,
Adrian Zupp
My hat is off to the people and the government of Chile and all the other countries that assisted in the rescue of the 33 miners. Faith was the common denominator with the miners and their families and I wish them luck in adjusting to life after their traumatic experience. There are heroes all around to hug and pat on the back as the world watched for 24 hours plus. Let me just congralute the MVP of this acomplishment....the Phoenix capsule that performed so admirably in bringing these courageous miners back to earth as the world witnessed this tremendous endeavor!
A remarkable man and a real leader. Welcome back, Sir!
Now we can take an elevator back down and we can go through all their neat stuff!!
I think they should turn that mine into a exclusive underground hotel, and that little chamber the miners lived in for 69 days could be the V.I.P. room.. Come on now it's ripe for some exploitation, somebody has to clean up the poop though.
The miners are not getting paid as the company announced they are filing bankruptcy. i understand not wanting to be celebritys, but I hope they take advantage of any opportunities. i am sure that the morning shows are bidding as well as Oprah and people. maybe even CNN, too. there were American volunteers also. everyone did a great job. leave it to us A to be cynical. i hope they will all recover fully.
I am sure that I am only one of millions to be relieved that thes hard workers were rescued far ahead of the anticipated original dates-but WOW ahead of schedule or not! 69 days!! In the dark and int he ground! I will never experience but can appreciate the reality of what these brave men survived-hats off!! I can speak for many Canadians (at least in Ontario) and rejoice in the rescue of all of these miners!!