Editorial
We rejoice in their miraculous rescue
A stupendous example of human endurance
We congratulate 33 Chilean miners on their safe return to the surface of the earth after 69 days' ordeal of daily encounter with death. Thanks are also due to the rescue operators, the Chilean people and their government for the love and compassion they showed for their trapped brethren in the collapsed mine.
The operation to salvage the miners trapped under-ground in a caved-in copper and gold mine about half a mile below the surface of the earth has been an extraor-dinary drama in real life. We hear of mine collapse trag-edy from different parts of the world from time to time. But in few of the cases the victims survive. The case of the San Jose mine collapse in northern Chile is quite a different example of human experience altogether.
The rescue operation was undoubtedly a wonderful piece of technological feat. What is equally important is the power of the trapped miners' survival instinct, their mettle and endurance, their trust and faith in them-selves and their Chilean compatriots. For they had al-ready survived for 17 days with a ration of only 48 hours after the August 5 mine accident without any hope of ever been detected. And once the rescuers came to know of their position and condition, there was still no cer-tainty that they could at all be rescued, for there was no such instance of salvage of miners from such depths be-fore.
What stunned even experts is that the miners proved all their prognostications about their adaptability to the conditions above the ground wrong. They showed no sign of exhaustion after being hauled up on the ground above.
According to a psychologist, it is the society they built underground that kept them strong and optimistic.
The story of the trapped miners' survival and the res-cue operation is a unique event in human history. United in a concern, the entire world has been glued to television sets, computers, mobile telephones and all other forms of communication devices to keep track of the day-to-day development of the rescue operation and what was been communicated between the miners and the their families and the rescue team working above. And it is not the Chileans alone; the whole world had a leap of the mind in a shared sense of relief. Been at one with the miners.
In spite of all the diseases, wars, hunger and the acts of terrorism people are going through everyday, the Chilean instance of indefatigable human spirit, the power of trust, faith and the love of one human being for another at once provide a moment's respite and a lesson to learn from. And it is not only that Chile is enriched, the world at large also is.
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