01x03 - Episode 3

[bunniefuu]

[flames crackling]

[reporter] And now to Chile
where there has been a setback

in the massive effort to
rescue 33 miners who've been

trapped for more
than a month now.

-By mid-September the rescue
operation wasn't going well.

The Plan A drill had to stop
for crucial maintenance,

and to make matters
worse the Plan B drill,

the American drill,
broke it's, it's bit.

For days the site had been
filled with deafening drilling,

but now an unsettling
silence hung over the mine.

-What happened is that there
was a breakdown at 860 feet.

The tip of the drill bit broke.

And it was stuck in
the bottom of the hole.

When I saw
this on the camera,

I felt heartbroken.

I remember, I yelled

"Oh no, this is like
literally the worst that

could have happened."

We estimated that
we had around 18 kilos

in the bottom of the hole.

Of course, you
cannot drill through

that huge mass of steel,
you need to take it out.

Probably just...

-Broke it off.
-Broke it all off.

I knew that it was
gonna be not an easy job.

And we needed to take the
miners out as soon as possible.

Every minute they spend there,
it was a risk.

You know, Chile is
a seismic country.

We have earthquakes
all the time.

Any minute, uh,
something could happen.

-Hello, my
name is Richard Villarroel,

I would like to send
greetings to my mother

To Pepe, to my brother,
to my little sister, Antonia.

and my wife

I am going to
come out soon

Here I've got a letter I wrote
on September 13th 2010

A letter I sent to my wife

“It’s been about four or
five days since we've heard

the machines drilling”

[Jimmy] When
the rescue stopped

desperation starts again

It was just like the first day,
we couldn't sleep.

thinking about

how much longer we’d
be stuck down there.

-We haven’t
worked for four days

Here we’re playing
with human lives

-What if one of the
miners gets overly enthusiastic

and goes on an expedition?

-It’s a risk

-And dies, who
is responsible then?

[Richard] At that
point, we were all desperate

We stared to worry that they
would stop all the machines,

abandon all the rescue efforts

and leave us down there

it’s be “too expensive”

That’s how paranoid we were.

[Alex] We just
wanted to get out already

We wanted to be back
with our families

We're waiting for the
moment to come out

All we need is strength

I told myself

I have to fight

for my children, for my wife

I have to go back to see them.”

[Richard] We were feeling
strong enough to do something

and we decided

to look for an
alternative way out

[Alex] We thought
there might be a way

that we hadn’t tried before

We were a small group,
maybe three or four

[Richard] We went
near the collapsed area

We realized
everything was blocked

So we started clearing all the
debris, rocks and lumps by hand

and we managed to make a hole

Florencia Ávalos

goes inside

and

he disappears

We started shouting to him

“Florencio, how are you?
You OK?”

Either the hole
we’d made collapsed

or he fell

Those were the two options

Eventually, we see his
torch and he appears again

“How are things over there?”

“No, it's all good”

“There might be a way
out, but it's very high.”

“It's very high,” he said.

“It’s at least 30 metres
we’d need to climb.”

[Alex] There was
no way to get up there

It was practically suicidal

In the end, we realized
that we couldn’t

We had to calm down a
bit and put ourselves

in the hands of those who
were carrying out the rescue

[speaking in Spanish]

-It was dire, we started
scrambling and brainstorming

real quickly on how
we're going to fish these

broken pieces out
of the ground.

-We used electrical magnet
to try to get it out.

We lost around three,

four days and we
couldn’t get it out.

-We really needed someone
else with different ideas,

and there was only
one man for that job,

and it was Jeff.

-At the beginning
of September,

we were working
in Afghanistan,

drilling water wells
for the troops,

and early one morning
we got a phone call,

asking if we had watched
anything about a mine collapse

that had happened in Chile.

They said, it was
recommended that you have

the expertise and,

and the most
experience in drilling.

We'd like to get
you guys on the way.

Had no idea what we
were really getting into.

When the interpreter picked
us up from the airport the only

thing that he said is, welcome,

and the bit has broke
off at the bottom of the hole.

-At this point we had an
ultimatum from the minister.

He gave us five days,

and so if this
didn’t work that was it,

he was gonna call Plan B
finished and that was it,

we had to pack and go.

[Jeff] We had kinda watched
what they were trying to do,

and how they were
going to fish this out.

The fifth day we said,
you know,

we can probably just make a
poor boy finger basket, um,

which is literally just
taking a piece of casing and

cutting fingers on it.

[Igor] So, I started
designing the exact look of it.

I remember I draw it with
a piece of chalk in the

door of our container.

And a welder build it.

[Jeff] So, it's almost
like a claw where it,

it can close on itself
and capture everything

on the inside.

-Yeah?

[Brandon] We can see the
top of the broken piece,

we could tell whenever the
fingers were starting to buckle.

And we knew we had at least
some of what was in the ground.

[Igor] Taking those drill
rods out of the hole takes

a long time.

All that time you're
questioning if those

pieces of steel’s gonna,

are gonna fall down
the hole again.

[Brandon] Whenever that
thing passed through,

we still didn’t know.

Because it's not transparent.

One of the Chilean welders
grabbed the blowtorch and

started cutting a side of the
fishing tool open and we're,

you know, all standing around
hovering over this object,

waiting for this
thing to open up,

and all really getting anxious.

All of a sudden there's this
big chunk of metal that we've

been trying to get.

It's there.

-It’s everything!

-Well done, guys!

Bravo!

-Yes!

-We couldn’t sleep when
we couldn’t hear the drilling

Now we can sleep well again.

[Jeff] It was just
a great feeling.

Everybody was in celebration.

But we're not out
of the woods yet.

We have 33 lives
at stake, that, uh,

need to get back
to their families.

And we have to make sure that
everyone understands failure

is not an option.

-When we were
doing the drilling,

I was asked to take
the responsibility of

the final stage,
which was the final rescue.

Some people were asking,
"Why don't we use a rope,

and just take them
out with a rope?"

But we need to remember
that the length of the hole

was two times the Eiffel Tower.

This was the first time
ever trying to rescue people

at that depth.

We didn't have any clear
example on how to do it.

And we knew that we need
to design a capsule safe

enough to get
the miners out.

And for them not to die
during that process.

And there was an
enormous pressure on me.

So, I called a team of
engineers from Chile

to start working.

One of the main risks
that we faced was getting

our capsule stuck,

and we knew that
there were some places,

because of the
shape of the hole,

that that thing could happen.

And so we needed to make
sure that the capsule was

thin enough to go
without any problems,

any interference
going up the hole.

So, it couldn't be
bigger than 26 inches,

because that was
the size of the hole.

-It is very tight.
Very tight.

I couldn’t fit in 26 inches.

[chuckles]

[Romagnoli] Start
building strength in your legs

[Romagnoli] I had been in
the mine about two weeks,

and I realized
looking at the miners,

their weights and diameters,
that we had a massive problem

because three of them
didn’t fit in the capsule.

They were so over-fed that
they passed from

starvation to overweight.

I was kind of looking to this
scenario as we're doomed,

because there's
three that don’t fit,

and the capsule
won't be larger,

so we need to reduce their size.

And I called into a massive
meeting with the 33 of them,

and I told them, "Guys, you're
gonna have to start training."

-So, the first
workout we want to do

is a cardiovascular one

[Romagnoli] And they started,
"No, no, no, we're too tired,

no, no, that's too hot,
we won't, we won't."

"Okay, thing is this, you
don’t fit, you don’t fit,

and you don’t fit.

And it's either
you lose weight,

or we're gonna dislocate
both of your shoulders and

pack you in the capsule,

and then we will fix
you up in the surface."

[Mario] It was
quite cruel to hear

but also motivating.

I mean, if I don’t get my act
together, if I don’t exercise

if I don’t do
what the doctor says

I'm going to stay down here

-It’s a squat, I don’t
know if you can see from here

[Mario] I remember
him giving us instructions

through a camera

on how to do the exercises

[Romagnoli] You don’t
need to go all the way down

[Mario] When we
watched him we paid attention

and when we weren’t
watching we ignored him

[Romagnoli] It's
basically the typical movement

from musketeers movies

A movement like this

[Omar] He sent
us elastic bands

to exercise simulating weights

Apart from that, we ran
inside the space we had

Some of us were obsessed,
we exercised all day

-I remember one day,
several weeks in,

there were these huge
bulldozers clearing space

in the desert.

And I was chatting with one
of the officials, and I said,

"What’s going on there?

Well, we've run out of
space for all the reporters,

and we just know that
there are more coming."

The appetite for
this story became insatiable.

People were so fascinated,
so intrigued by the problem.

[reporter] Chile has
never drawn so much press

[reporter] This is not a
reality show, it is real life.

[Laurence] The whole
world was watching.

And, uh, over time they
started thinking in terms of

they will be famous.

[Mario] Good
morning family

[reporter] Among the
men who’ve been waiting


is Mario Sepúlveda.

He has become a bit of
a celebrity across Chile,

where he’s
become known as just,

"The Presenter."

[Mario] Today is... ok

The media starts saying that
Mario Sepúlveda is going to be

a future TV presenter.

Of course, your ego feels good

but it also caused issues

The families started saying,
“How come Mario appears

more than you?”

And then everyone
blamed me, it was awful

[Rene] It was crazy.

You had TV channels
trying to get, you know,

the latest news on the miners.

And companies would try to get
free advertising by sending

their products to the miners.

[Laurence] An MP3
player with recorded music

A cell phone

Thanks to Samsung

[Kofman] Chile’s president,
Sebastián Piñera,

was a regular visitor to the
site during the media frenzy,

and watched his approval
ratings skyrocket.

The Chilean government had
a, a very smart media office.

They were very good at
distributing this stuff,

they understood
the impact of it.

[Ariel] A few days
after my daughter was born

my wife was finally
able to come to the mine

with my daughter

That day, I was getting ready

I was there in
front of the camera

And then someone else
came in who wasn’t my wife

[Sebastian]
I want to tell you

that Chile is a better
place because of you

[Ariel] It
was the president

with a baby

At first, I didn’t
understand anything

so I was like,
“What’s happening here?”

[Sebastian] Baby
Esperanza is here.

-Look how beautiful.

Where is her dad?

[Ariel] Seeing my
daughter was obviously

a moment of joy

but

the president was
the one holding her

I felt sad about not being
able to enjoy that moment

more intimately

[Kofman] These men
were rapidly becoming

international celebrities.

People knew their names,

people knew
their family’s names,

people knew their pictures,
they knew their back stories.

There was a real risk that
on the surface people would

lose sight of the fact that
these men were going through

this unimaginable trauma.

And that they might
not get out alive.

[Jeff] Over the following 25
days the drilling was amazing,

we were having fantastic luck.

The plan was working.

[Romagnoli] I started seeing,
day by day, the results.

And the three most problematic
ones start losing weight

to fit the capsule.

[reporter] This custom built
capsule will be carrying the

first miner to freedom.

They call it ‘Fénix.’

[Laurence] The excitement was
every day a little bit more.

This was like a series in,
in chapters, you know.

We are the level 1,500 feet.

We are the level 1,800 feet,
we are the level of 2,000 feet.

So, the last few
feet we were on fire.

[Alex] This letter

is one of the most important
that I sent to my wife

I wrote everything
minute by minute

in the moment they were about
to finalize the drilling

It says, “Hello, my love

It's 7:25 am

Here with most of my colleagues

we haven’t been able
to sleep all night

We're anxious

eagerly waiting for the drill
to reach its destination”

-We have been
up since 2:30 am

awaiting this important miracle

[Alex] “The
noise is deafening

You can see the nervousness

and the anticipation
on my mates’ faces

We were like little
children at a birthday party

waiting for the
piñata to be broken”

-Hi guys, here we are
just minutes away from the joy

of 33 people

[Alex] “It is 7:42 a.m

They call from the surface

and they ask us if the
drill has appeared”

“We all take a look

and we find that
you can already see

that a bit of the drill
is coming through”

- We are extremely
moved by what happened today

[Alex] “And from
here we inform you

to stop the drilling

that

we are ready

It was at that moment when...”

Sorry

“It was at that moment
when all joy broke loose”

[cheering and clapping]

[cheering and clapping]

[bell ringing]

[Igor] It was one of the
best moments of my life.

Andre Sougarret
called me and said,

"Remember that everything
that happened here happened

because of you."

And that,
um, that broke me.

I cried like a baby.

[Maria] Suddenly
the horns start going off

We were all the same,
we all set off

turned around, ran in every
direction, hugged half the world

It was an emotional celebration

[Jeff] The families were more
loving than you can imagine,

just hugging, hanging onto us.

It was just an amazing
feeling to know that you,

you did your part to help.

[cheering and clapping]

[chanting in Spanish]

[Victor] Well,
family, I wanted to tell you

today, October 10th

around 8am I heard strong noises

extremely strong ones

just like when we
were first buried here

It was terrible

The mountain was rumbling
and huge slabs of rocks

started falling

I didn’t want to say anything,
so I wouldn’t alarm you

But it's getting
terrible in here again

[Laurence]
It's going to start tonight

I ask for your understanding
during these 48 hours of the

rescue process

[Andre] On the
day of the final rescue

I would say I was
a bit impatient

My main concern was that
everything worked properly

and for everything to go well

There miners informed us
that they had heard noises

and that a larger
collapse was possible

[Mario] We went to
speak to the authorities

“Hey! Get us out of here fast!

We need to get out because
this place is collapsing.”

[Laurence] The mine was moving,

there were a little
earthquake inside the mine.

The risk was that
fractures on the rock will

maybe loosen the stones,

could make problems for
the Fénix traveling which

will be a disaster.

[Rene] For the day of the
rescue it was proposed for the

family members to be
present while we were

performing the rescue.

And I thought that
was a terrible idea.

I didn’t want families to
be by my side in case we had

to face any issue.

But I lost that battle.

[Ariel] So many things
were going through my head

I was thinking a
lot about my family

and about meeting my daughter

So that day I asked to say the
prayer with my colleagues

so that everything
would go smoothly

[reporter] The Chilean president
inspects the creation.

[reporter] The world are
watching their every move.

[Laurence] We had more
than 1,000 different media

enterprises that
were covering this.

From all over the world.

There were Japanese, Korean,

African media
that came to Chile.

It was a worldwide event.

-Everyone was watching.

Just like a reality show.

And it wasn’t a reality show.

We didn’t ask to be there.

A lot of people forgot
that it was an accident.

[Rene] Finally I gave the order
to the winch operators to start.

And we decided to send the
capsule down just as a test

before going properly down.

And then, in some moment,

I just heard "bang,"
you know.

Uh, and I was like,
"What was that?"

And they said to me,
"It's stuck."

"What do you mean,
it is stuck?"

"Uh, the
President was the one that

closed the capsule."

"But did you check
that after that?"

"No we didn't."

So, the door was open,

and the door was blocking
the capsule going up.

This was a complete nightmare,

we had cameras pointing to
us from all over the world,

we have the families,

and we have the capsule
stuck at the very last minute.

I was with sleep deprivation
for ppff, 38 hours.

And I was like, "I
cannot believe this."

"What can we do?"

And they say, "Just going
up and down and just with force

and eventually
it will go up."

So, we did.

And on the fifth one,
the capsule went up.

So now, let's start this, okay?

-Let’s go Manuel!

[Rene] Manuel Gonzalez was
the first rescuer going down

to the actual
bottom of the mine.

-He was the true guinea pig,
or hero, or, I mean,

he was going into a
situation completely unknown.

No one knew for sure
that that capsule was gonna

make it through
and not get hung up.

[Rene] We sent
down six rescuers,

not only to make sure that the
capsule was in good condition

before going up,

but also to do a sort
of emotional support.

If any of them was
having some issue,

like an anxiety or whatever,
to help him to calm down.

[Mario] When the first
rescuer arrived with the Fénix

it was strange

Seeing something that
wasn't part of us

We hadn’t seen anything
unusual in 69 days

And I remember we hugged
him, a hug and all that

[Scarlette] Seeing him
was a happiness I can't explain

It was like we were little
kids receiving candy

or I don't know, like when you
give a kid a piece of cake and

they get all happy

[Andre] How did they
receive you down there?

[Manuel] Very well, and
I am happy down here with them

[Andre] All right then.

[reporter] Gonzalez is among
the rescuers who will now stay

down in the mine,

sending each man up as
quickly and safely as possible.

[Kofman] People right
now, as you can see,

glued to the television set,
the first miner,

as I'm speaking,
is about to come up.

-Florencio Ávalos

-We chose Florencio
because he was a skilled miner,

he was calm.

And he could provide us with
information on the journey.

[speaking in Spanish]

[overlapping chatter]

[speaking in Spanish]

[cheers and applause]

[rumbling and scraping]

-I was really nervous
because he was the first one.

I was crossing my fingers,

and my adrenaline
was pumping heavily.

[Rene] That one was
the most stressful to me,

because I had,
during all that time,

his little son saying,
"Daddy, daddy, daddy"

[emotional pause]

[exhales]

Emotionally, it was devastating.

Because all the time,
I was thinking,

"Something might be wrong."

I think I covered my
face with my hard hat.

[emotional pause]

It was so stressful,
I mean, it was terrible.

[cheering]

[Igor] I remember when the
gate of the capsule opened,

and this guy came out.

I just bursted into tears,

and I cried like when
I was eight years old.

[cheering]

[speaking in Spanish]

[Rene] When I saw
his son going...

[holding emotions]

Sorry.

When I saw his son going and
hugging his father...

...that’s it.

And that was the first one.

And we had 32 more to come.

[Kofman] And now we're
watching the second of the

miners come up,
Mario Sepúlveda.

[Mario] It was incredible,
an endless journey

I yelled the whole journey up

All of it

I was shouting “Hey!”
I shouted everything

-We're waiting for you

[Mario] Let’s go,
let’s go, let’s go!

{\an8}[Kofman] Mario Sepúlveda,
the second miner to come up

{\an8}in the capsule.

{\an8}They have the sunglasses
on because of the risk

{\an8}of eye strain.

[Scarlette] I remember watching
him stepping out of the capsule.

It was like to see an astronaut.

{\an8}It was really
a happy moment.

{\an8}[Kofman] And he brought
something back with him.

{\an8}Looks like, uh, bits
of rock souvenir.

[laughs]

[Mario] Thank you, thank
you, thank you for rescuing us!

I hugged everyone

I nearly tore the
president apart.

{\an8}[speaking in Spanish]

[Scarlette] I can't
describe that happiness.

It was unique.

[Jimmy] I was
going to come out fifth

The rescuer didn’t want to let
me go up because

I was very anxious

My hands were sweating

My heart was racing and I
was afraid something might

happen to me

The trip in the capsule brought
back memories of the time I

spent trapped underground

As I was going up, all I
could see was the mountain

All I could hear were the
wheels turning, nothing else

Then, about 100 metres
left to get there

I heard shouting from above

“Come on, Jimmito!”
“Stay strong, Jimmito!”

[Juan] The psychologist
told me that Jimmy was not well

He was nervous, he was anxious

and that I had to reassure him

I moved a little bit closer
to where the capsule came out

and I started
shouting things down

“Jimmy, calm down son, you're
almost there, you can do it”,

things like that

-Jimmito!

[Juan] He came
to me and we hugged

It was the most

That hug was the most

the most beautiful
one in my life.

I cried

Men cry too

Men cry too

[Jimmy] I hugged him

and he told me he loved me a lot

-That was the first
time I told him I loved him,

in person

[Pedro] The twelfth
miner had been rescued

and I get a call from the refuge

They told me that down there

they were hearing noises

there were rocks falling

[Andre] There was a real
possibility of a bigger collapse

We had info from a nearby mine

where this had happened

Part of the hill
collapsed and sank down

That was about two kilometres
away, relatively close

so that could also happen here

[Dario] The
mine was collapsing

Big slabs were falling,
sliding like this

We were scared

-They had to
be taken out immediately

The first rescues

took between 20 and 25
minutes each

After that, the last ones began
to come out with a frequency

of eight minutes, seven minutes

-That anxiety
and stress was there with,

you know, each time that thing
come out of the ground it was,

you know, happiness but then
we don’t know for certain that

that capsule’s gonna be
able to make 33 round trips.

[reporter] We are seeing some
very memorable moments as each

trapped miner is set free.

Watch as they emerge one by one.

[Kofman] Fénix was the
perfect name for that capsule.

They rose from the ashes,
they were reborn that day.

They were given a
second shot at life.

[reporter] A few minutes ago
the last man was

brought out safely.

[Rene] It was amazing,

there was a sense of a
good energy flowing everywhere.

Finally, we could demonstrate
that the plan had worked.

That getting the miners out of
the mine and getting back to

their families was a reality.

It was not a plan anymore.

[overlapping chatter]

[reporter] Doctors have warned
that many are in a fragile

psychological state
after their ordeal,

and will require
prolonged support.

[Ariel]
Inside the hospital

we all went there for
a medical check-up

I remember my wife placing
my daughter on my chest

I was able to enjoy
her for the first time

I was very happy that
I could be with her

[Omar] At the hospital

it was chaotic because
suddenly people would

show up with cameras

and things to take photos.
They had to kick them out

To be able to leave the hospital

I disguised myself
as a police officer

I wore a wig and a police vest

They didn’t realize I
was one of the miners

[in Spanish] Good, good,
thank you.

[reporter] As expected, the men
who were released were mobbed

by friends and family,
as well as the media.

[Omar] I couldn’t even
go out to buy bread, I couldn’t

live my normal life

[reporter] Welcome to New York.

[Laurence] They
were celebrities.

-Chile, Chile.

{\an8}[reporter] Playing a
soccer match in Santiago.

[Laurence] They were invited
to visit many countries.

United States, Spain,
Greece, Germany.

[reporter] The group has signed
deals for an authorized book

and movie about their
experience underground.

[Laurence] Everywhere they
were received like heroes.

-Chile, Chile, Chile, Chile!

[Kofman] Mario Sepúlveda,

"Super Mario" as he was
affectionately called,

became the breakout celebrity,

so to speak,
of this group.

And, and he capitalized on it.

He did a world tour,
he gave speeches,

and I think he had a lot of fun.

[Mario] Because I've
always taken the best path

{\an8}[reporter] Some of the
Chilean miners were on hand in

{\an8}Washington this week
for the opening of the

Smithsonian Museum
exhibit on their ordeal.

[Alex] I didn’t
accept any invitation

for any kind of
interview because

I wasn’t ready to talk about it

Just remembering

hurt me a lot

[Dario] I had
trouble sleeping

When I was alone in my car

nobody had seen me
cry but I would cry alone

Why am I here?
We're alive,

and we were practically dead

[Alex] Because my dad had
a lot of experience in mining

I remember I used to say to him

“You know, I have
lots of nightmares.

I wake up at night.”

One day he said to me,
“You know, son

you have to

you have to face this.

and the best way is to
go back into a mine"

So we started
going in day by day

Each day a little bit longer

and it was like the best
therapy I could have had

because it all went away

Everything

[Jimmy] Jimmy Sánches

after getting out of
the mine, changed a lot

I'm a mature person now

I'm cheerful

I love the family I've built

I'm a father of
three children and

I'm not the Jimmy I used to be

Have I gained weight?

The experience

changed my life

[Mario] Heroes are those
people who carry out rescues

Those of us who suffer accident

and are rescued are
victims of the system

[Andre] This
is a great lesson

It can’t be that a worker’s
life is at risk just for going

to work every day

Human life is priceless

[Laurence] The story in Chile
had many consequences.

It created a sense of unity.

Chileans were admired
all over the world.

So, that gave the country
a sense of pride and a,

a sense that we could
do very big things.

[Rene] This story
taught us that nothing,

absolutely nothing
is impossible.

It’s about the will of the
people that could change things.

And here the will was so
important because it moved

literally mountains.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[♪ dramatic music playing]