From the moment the first miner, Florencio Avalos, was watched by the world leaving the Phoenix capsule, it took just 21 hours and forty four minutes to rescue the last man.
The foreman, 54-year-old Urzua, had bravely supported his thirty-two men ever since August 5th, as the mine collapsed leaving the 33 men trapped 2,050 feet (625 meters) beneath ground level. They endured 69 days in airless damp conditions.
For the first seventeen days the miners´ biggest fear was that the world would believe them to be dead. 1,500 reporters broadcasting the news as it unfolded world-wide. Finally, as the rescue workers leave, a flag remains saying "Mission accomplished".
