The Rescue of the 33 Miners

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____ successful rescue of 33 miners from the San Jose gold and copper mine in ____ Chile on 13th
October was ____ big news story all over ____ world. In fact, around one billion people watched at
least some of it on ___ TV.
____ men had been trapped underground for longer than any other miners in ___ history 69 days in
total. ___ story began on 5th August when the roof of part of ___ mine collapsed, trapping the men
700 metres beneath ___ surface. On 22nd August it was discovered that ____ miners were still alive,
and so ____ rescue effort began. While ___ rescuers started drilling a 700m hole that would be wide
enough for ___ miners to escape through, ____ miners themselves did ___ vital job by clearing away
___ pieces of rock that fell down ____ hole during the drilling.
____ NASA and ____ Chilean navy together made ____ rescue capsule ___ kind of very narrow lift
that would be able to carry ___ miners, one by one, up to the surface. No miner with ____ waistline
of more than 90cm would be able to fit inside, however, so ____ few of them had to do extra
exercise to lose ___ weight.
On 12th October ____ Phoenix 2 capsule carried ____ first member of a team of rescuers down the
mine: they would stay there until all 33 of the miners had been taken to the surface. Phoenix 2 took
around 15 minutes to lift each miner to the surface. ___ first miner arrived shortly after ___
midnight on 13th October, ___ last 22 hours later, around 10pm.
Since ____ rescue the miners have had to get used to ____ fact that they are now celebrities, with
journalists queuing up to talk to them. Suddenly they are now receiving VIP treatment: ____
Manchester United and Real Madrid, for example, have invited all 33 of them to travel to ____
Europe to watch football matches at their stadiums. As for Phoenix 2, it soon became ___ tourist
attraction, going on display in ____ Chilean capital, Santiago.
____ cost of the rescue was probably somewhere between 10 and 20 million US dollars, but anyone
who saw ____ moving pictures of the miners reaching the surface and seeing their loved ones again
coming back from ___ dead, as some newspapers described it would agree that ___ end result
was priceless.

Adapted from Inside Out - www.insideout.net