By WIL LONGBOTTOM and GRAHAM GURRIN
Omar Reygadas, 56, gestures on his knees after becoming the 17th of 33 miners rescued from the San Jose mine after more than two months underground
All 33 plucked to safety from copper and gold mine in Atacama desert
Millions of people across the world tune into live TV coverage of rescue
Rescue operation expected in half the expected time
With remarkable speed - and flawless execution - miner after miner climbed into a cramped cage deep beneath the Chilean earth, was hoisted through 2,000 feet of rock and saw precious sunlight after the longest underground entrapment in history.
By 1.55am BST all 33 had been pulled to freedom, as the operation was completed in half the expected time.
After 69 days underground, including two weeks during which they were feared dead, the men emerged to the cheers of exuberant Chileans and before the eyes of a transfixed world.
Scenes of jubilation erupted every time a miner arrived at the surface of the San Jose gold and copper mine in Chile's northern Atacama desert.
The rescue is a big success for Chilean President Sebastian Pinera, who waited at the mouth of the rescue shaft to greet and hug the men as they emerged.
'Each rescue is taking 40 minutes... it could be completed today,' said a beaming Pinera, who planned to stay until the last man was out.
‘Welcome to life,’ President Pinera told Victor Segovia, the 15th miner out. On a day of superlatives, it seemed no overstatement.
The miners emerged like clockwork, jubilantly embracing wives, children and rescuers and looking remarkably composed after languishing for 69 days in the depths of a mine that easily could have been their tomb.
Rescuers' anxiety melted away at 12.11am when the stoutest of the 33 miners, Florencio Avalos, emerged from the missile-like rescue capsule smiling broadly after his half-mile journey to the surface.
In a din of cheers, he hugged his sobbing seven-year-old son and wife and then President Sebastian Pinera, who has been deeply involved in an effort that had become a matter of national pride.
Chilean President Sebastian Pinera leads the 33 rescued miners in singing the national anthem in celebration of the remarkable operation
Mission accomplished: The rescue team hold up a sign after the last miner reaches the surface
The most ebullient of the bunch came out second, an hour later. 'I think I had extraordinary luck. I was with God and with the devil. And I reached out for God,' said Mario Sepulveda.
While the first miners to be rescued were in good shape, some have been struggling with illness and are more fragile, so medical teams were on hand to treat them.
Chile exploded in joy and relief at the first, breakthrough rescue just after midnight in the coastal Atacama desert.
Ecstatic: Relatives of Dario Segovia celebrate as he is brought to the surface
Claudio Yanez, 34, is hugged by a relative as he becomes the eighth miner to exit the rescue capsule
Chilean miner Osman Araya (R) is welcomed by his wife Angelica as he comes out of the Fenix capsule after been brought to the surface
In the capital, Santiago, a cacophony of motorists' horns sounded. In the nearby regional capital of Copiapo, from which 24 of the miners hail, the mayor canceled school so parents and children could 'watch the rescue in the warmth of the home'.
All-news channels from North America to Europe and the Middle East carried live coverage. Pope Benedict XVI said in Spanish that he 'continues with hope to entrust to God's goodness' the fate of the men.
The methodical pace at which the miners were delivered from the mountain matched the rescue team's prediction that all would be free after about 36 hours, barring major glitches.
Escape hatch: Mine workers and government officials look into the hole as the rescue capsule is lowered into the mine
After the fifth miner, the rescuers paused to lubricate the spring-loaded wheels that gave the 13-foot-tall capsule a smooth ride through the shaft. Then they brought up the sixth and seventh.
As dawn broke over the rock-strewn moonscape, eight men had been pulled from the mine in a little over seven hours, putting the rescue on track to end before the sun rises Thursday.
The ninth, Mario Gomez, who at 63 is the oldest miner, came up about an hour later and dropped to his knees and bowed his head in prayer.
His wife, Lilianette Ramirez, pulled him up from the ground and embraced him. Gomez has silicosis, a lung disease common to miners, and has been on antibiotics and bronchial inflammation medicine.
Alex Vega became the tenth to be rescued just over 60 minutes later, and just 40 minutes after that Jorge Galleguillos was brought to safety.
Then came Jorge Galleguillos, Edison Pena Carlos Barrios, Victor Zamora, Daniel Herrara Campos and Omar Reygadas Rojas emerging triumphant from the bowels of the earth.
Jimmy Sanchez arrives at the Copiapo hospital for a full check-up after being rescued from the San Jose mine
Carlos Mamani, from Bolivia, arrives to the hospital of Copiapo, Chile. Mamani was the fourth of 33 miners rescued
First line (L-R), Alex Vega Salazar, Ariel Ticona Yanez, Carlos Bugueno Alfaro, Calros Barrios Contreras, Carlos Mamani Solis, Claudio Acuna Cortes, Claudio Yanez Lagos, Daniel Herrera Campos, Dario Segovia Rojas, Edison Penaa Villarroel and Esteban Rojas Carrizo. Second line (L-R) Florencio Avalos Silva, Franklin Lobos Ramirez, Jimmy Sanchez Lagues, Jorge Galleguillos, Jose Ojeda Vidal, Jose Henriquez Gonzalez, Juan Illanes Palma, Juan Aguilar Gaete, Luis Alberto Urzua, Mario Gomez Heredia and Mario SepĂșlveda Espina. Third line (L-R) Omar Orlando Reygadas, Osman Isidro Araya Acuna, Pablo Amadeos Rojas Villacorta, Pedro Cortez, Raul Enriquez Bustos Ibanez, Renan Avalos Silva, Richard Villarroel Godoy, Samuel Avalos Acuna, Victor Segovia Rojas, Victor Zamora Bugueno and Yonny Barrios Rojas
The entire rescue operation has been meticulously choreographed, with no expense spared in bringing in topflight drillers and equipment - and boring three separate holes into the copper and gold mine.
Pinera put his mining minister and the operations chief of state-owned Codelco, the country's biggest company, in charge of the rescue.
It went so well that its managers abandoned what a legion of journalists had deemed an ultraconservative plan for restricting images of the rescue.
A huge Chilean flag that was to obscure the hole from view was moved aside so the hundreds of cameras perched on a hill above could record images that state TV also fed live.
That included the surreal moment when the capsule dropped into the chamber for the first time where the bare-chested miners, most stripped down to shorts because of the subterranean swelter, mobbed the rescuer who emerged to serve as their guide to freedom.
'This rescue operation has been so marvelous, so clean, so emotional that there was no reason not to allow the eyes of the world - which have been watching this operation so closely - to see it,' a beaming Pinera told a news conference after Avalos was brought to the surface.
When the last man surfaces, it promises to end a national crisis that began when 700,000 tons of rock collapsed August 5, sealing the 33 in the lower reaches of the mine.
The first capsule came out of the manhole-sized opening, and Avalos stepped out as bystanders cheered, clapped and broke into a chant of 'Chi! Chi! Chi! Le! Le! Le!' - the country's name.
Avalos, the 31-year-old second-in-command of the miners, was chosen to be first because he was in the best condition.
The next three men out, including the lone foreigner, Carlos Mamani of Bolivia, followed because they were deemed the fittest of body and mind.
The next group of 10 included miners with health problems such as hypertension, diabetes and skin ulcers.
Sepulveda's shouts were heard even before the capsule surfaced. After hugging his wife, he jokingly handed souvenir rocks from the mine to laughing rescuers. Then he bounded out behind other officials behind a barrier and thrust a fist upward like a prizefighter.
Putting him on a gurney for a short ambulance ride to a triage centre - the protocol for all the miners - almost seemed like overkill.
The operation commenced just before midnight when a Codelco rescuer made the sign of the cross and was lowered to the trapped men.
A navy paramedic went down after Avalos came up - a surprise improvisation as officials had said the two would go down to oversee the miners' ascent before the first went up.
After he emerged, Sepulveda criticised the mine's management, saying 'in terms of labour, there has to be change'.
Pinera promised it would.
'This mine has had a long history of accidents and that's why this mine will not reopen while it doesn't assure and guarantee the integrity, safety and life of those who work in it are clearly protected. And the same will occur with many other mines in our country,' said Pinera, who ordered a review of safety regulations after the collapse.
Relief: The son of Florencio Avalos breaks down in tears as his father arrives on the surface
Mario Sepulveda celebrates with rescue workers after becoming the second miner to reach the surface at the San Jose mine in Copiapo
Daniel Herrera Campos embraces his mother. Herrera was the 16th miner to be rescued
Minutes earlier, rescue expert Manuel Gonzalez of the state copper company Codelco grinned and made the sign of the cross as he was lowered to the trapped men - apparently without incident.
He was followed by Roberto Rios, a paramedic with the Chilean navy's special forces.
Janette Marin, sister-in-law of miner Dario Segovia, said the order of rescue didn't matter.
'This won't be a success unless they all get out,' she said, echoing the solidarity that the miners and people across Chile have expressed.
The paramedics can change the order of rescue based on a brief medical check once they're in the mine.
First out were those best able to handle any difficulties and tell their comrades what to expect.
Then, the weakest and the ill - in this case, about 10 suffer from hypertension, diabetes, dental and respiratory infections and skin lesions from the mine's oppressive humidity.
Miner Osman Araya arrives as the sixth miner to be hoisted to the surface
Thank goodness: The oldest rescued miner Claudio Mario Gomez, 59, kneels as he becomes the ninth to exit the rescue capsule
Ecstatic: Relatives and friends react as the first miner emerges from the bore hole
Relatives and friends of miner Carlos Barrios react while watching the rescue operation on a TV screen at Camp Hope outside the San Jose mine. Barrios was the 13th miner to be rescued
The last were people who are both physically fit and strong of character. The last man out was shift foreman Luis Urzua, whose leadership was credited with helping the men endure the first two and a half weeks without outside contact.
The men made 48 hours’ worth of rations last before rescuers reached them with a narrow bore hole to send down more food.
No-one in recorded history has survived as long trapped underground. For the first 17 days, no one even knew whether they were alive. In the weeks that followed, the world was captivated by their endurance and unity.
Chile has taken extensive precautions to ensure the miners' privacy, using a screen to block the top of the shaft from the more than 1,000 journalists at the scene.
The rescue was carried live on all-news channels from the U.S. to Europe and the Middle East.
The miners were ushered through a tunnel built of metal containers to an ambulance for a trip of several hundred yards to a triage station for a medical check before being flown by helicopter to a hospital in Copiapo, a 10-minute ride away.
Two floors at the hospital were prepared for the miners to receive physical and psychological exams while being kept under observation in a ward as dark as a movie theatre.
Relatives were urged to wait to greet the miners at home after a 48-hour hospital stay.
Health Minister Jaime Manalich said no cameras or interviews will be allowed until the miners are released, unless the miners expressly desire it
The only media allowed to record them coming out of the shaft was a government photographer and Chile's state TV channel, whose live broadcast was delayed by 30 seconds or more to prevent the release of anything unexpected.
Residents observe the rescue of the miners trapped in the San Jose mine, on a large screen in a public square in the nearby town of Copiapo 
Chilean President Sebastian Pinera (R) as he greets Bolivian miner Carlos Mamani (L) after Mamani was rescued from the collapsed San Jose gold and copper mine
Photographers and camera operators were on a platform more than 300 feet (90 meters) away.
The worst technical problem that could happen, rescue coordinator Andre Sougarett said, is that 'a rock could fall,' potentially jamming the capsule in the shaft.
Panic attacks are the rescuers' biggest concern.
The miners aren't being sedated - they need to be alert in case something goes wrong.
If a miner must get out more quickly, rescuers will accelerate the capsule to a maximum 3 meters per second, Manalich said.
The rescue is risky simply because no-one else has ever tried to extract miners from such depths, said Davitt McAteer, who directed the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration in the Clinton administration.
'You can be good and you can be lucky. And they've been good and lucky,' McAteer added.
'Knock on wood that this luck holds out for the next 33 hours.'
Mining Minister Laurence Golborne, whose management of the crisis has made him a media star in Chile, said authourities had already thought of everything.
'There is no need to try to start guessing what could go wrong. We have done that job,' Golborne said.
Incredible: The capsule begins to rise with Florencio Avalos inside through the tiny hole drilled into the chamber
'We have hundreds of different contingencies.'
As for the miners, Manalich said 'they're actually much more relaxed than we are'.
Rescuers finished reinforcing the top of the 2,041-foot escape shaft on Monday, and the 13-foot capsule descended flawlessly in tests.
The capsule - the biggest of three built by Chilean navy engineers - was named Phoenix for the mythical bird that rises from ashes.
It was painted in the white, blue and red of the Chilean flag.
The miners were monitored closely in the capsule. A video camera watched for panic attacks.
communication. Their pulse, skin temperature and respiration rate were measured by a monitor around their abdomens.
To prevent blood clotting from the quick ascent, they took aspirin and wore compression socks.
They were given a high-calorie liquid diet donated by Nasa, designed to keep them from vomiting as the capsule rotated 10 to 12 times through curves in the 28-inch-diameter escape hole.
The miners also had sweaters for the shift in climate from about 90 degrees underground to near freezing on the surface after nightfall.
Engineers inserted steel piping at the top of the shaft, which is angled 11 degrees off vertical before plunging like a waterfall.
Drillers had to curve the shaft to pass through 'virgin' rock, avoiding collapsed areas and underground open spaces in the overexploited mine, which had operated since 1885.
Neighbours looked forward to barbecues and parties to replace the vigils held since their friends were trapped.
Urzua's neighbours said he probably insisted on being the last one up.
'He's a very good guy - he keeps everybody's spirits up and is so responsible - he's going to see this through to the end,' said Angelica Vicencio, who has led a nightly vigil outside the Urzua home in Copiapo.
U.S. President Barack Obama praised rescuers, who include many Americans.
'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,' he said.
Chile has promised that its care of the miners won't end for six months at least - not until they can be sure that each one has readjusted.
Psychiatrists and other experts in surviving extreme situations predict their lives will be anything but normal.
Since August 22, when a narrow bore hole broke through to their refuge and the miners stunned the world with a note, scrawled in red ink, disclosing their survival, their families have been exposed in ways they never imagined. Miners had to describe their physical and mental health in detail with teams of doctors and psychologists.
In some cases, when both wives and lovers claimed the same man, everyone involved had to face the consequences.
source: dailymail
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