The Chilean Miners' Rescue

While we all have been bashing the CWG India committee and deciding on the severity of breaking traffic rules, a real life drama unfolded in Chile as the trapped miners were finally rescued. I had been tracking the news item for some time earlier, but lost it in the last couple of weeks. The ordeal is finally over for all the trapped miners, who were rescued from the collapsed mine after about 69 days.

Hats off to the rescue team and the Chilean government, and more importantly the miners themselves! Truly amazing!

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Yeah, I've been following it too. They survived for 17 days on a fork full of tuna a day before they were located! Mind you, the average super-model would still have been throwing it up.

Most of them have been quite subdued as they came out but one guy was punching the air, high fiving the crowd and bellowing out a cheer every couple of seconds. It was like watching a pro-wrestlers entrance. You gotta love a guy like that. :)

That rescue was one of the most elegantly designed projects I've seen in some time. Simple in concept and flawless in execution. If software were more often designed that way you'd never crash a system!

-Max :D

I found the part about the guy who had his mistress holding vigil for him, slightly hilarious.
Susana Valenzuela has now catapulted to celebrity status in Chile.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by abhijit

I found the part about the guy who had his mistress holding vigil for him, slightly hilarious.
Susana Valenzuela has now catapulted to celebrity status in Chile.

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Yeah, I guess kinda like Monica Lewinsky is a celebrity in the U.S. huh?

-Max :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Max Peck

Yeah, I guess kinda like Monica Lewinsky is a celebrity in the U.S. huh?

-Max :D

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Monica didn't stand by her - umm... friend - when things started getting rough, so I would still hold this Chilean mistress in higher regard.

Anyways, what I am most amazed at is the way the trapped miners kept the spirit of survival alive. It will be a wonderful study in human behaviour if you could know what went on there:

- Immediately after the shaft collapsed, when the miners probably lost all hope of getting out alive
- The first 17 days till there was no contact with the outside world, hopes of survival were virtually nonexistent
- After making contact with the outside world
- After learning it could be months before they would be able to see the sun
- The waiting period till rescuers drilled another hole
- Finally the rescue

I am sure this will be covered in one of the Reader's Digest issue and will soon be made into a best seller book. Anyone purchased movie rights yet?

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It'd certainly be more interesting than Big Brother.

I am glad they all made it out alive. I was trying to figure out what a comparable time in jail would be, 6 months, or 1 year? At least you don't have to worry about starving to death in jail. Here's a cheer for them

WOOOO HOOOOOOO!!!!!

Its nice to see some news that is not bad.