Chile's Successful Rescue Sets Example for Other Countries

Oct. 13, 2010 — -- Americans continue to marvel at the rescue of trapped Chilean miners entombed in the collapsed San Jose mine for over 10 weeks.

The 33 men were trapped longer than any other miners in history and were being rescued from a depth never tried before. Yet, Chilean officials appeared to prepare and execute the rescue smoothly and methodically.

"This is very much unprecedented in that never have so many people been trapped so long, so far down," said JD Polk, Chief of Space Medicine at NASA.

While the spectacle that's transfixed the world may have begun as a mining accident, there was nothing accidental about the outcome.

Within hours of the Aug. 5 mine collapse, Chile's government took over the search. The world's biggest copper producer marshaled every resource it had to find the men.

It took 17 days, but rescuers persisted. Against perhaps impossible odds, they found the men.

Family members and officials marveled at the note the men sent up -- "We are well in the shelter."

From the moment the men were found, the Chilean government had a plan.

"So we have planned a whole support system for food, for psychological help, etc.," Chile's Minister of Mines, Laurence Golborne, told ABC News in the early days of the rescue. "We are going to keep them alive and in good shape."

It was a promise that, so far, rescuers have kept. With no playbook and no precedent, Chilean engineers created a system to sustain the men through a six-inch hole, dropping down food, medicine and even communications equipment so that the men could talk to their family members.

They brought in drills used for airshafts, water wells and oil. At the same time, Chilean naval engineers were designing the steel capsule that the men are using to ascend to freedom. The Chilean Health Ministry devised a protocol to care for the men before, during and after the rescue.

While this was a Chilean effort, the government did not hesitate to call on international expertise -- a Canadian oil drill, drill operators from NASA, a cable from Germany -- so the rescue capsule wouldn't spin. Even more help came from Argentina, Spain and South Africa.