OMG!! I just watched as the first miner was brought up from the collapsed mine in Chili!
I have been following closely all the news and articles written about these 33 men. What a harrowing ordeal this must have been. I cannot even imagine it, and truthfully................I don't want to. (I am hideously clautrophobic.)
Not being the *brightest bulb* when it comes to operating my computer, (I'm great at finding my email and newsvine.lol Plus some news pages). Imagine my surprise when I caught on how to get *live-streaming video coverage*!
I was soooo excited! So just when I got it all figured out and even put it on Full Screen, the capsule was on it's way up!
Wow! I was truly shaking and having a hard time not holding my breath in anxiety. I had to make myself take some deep breaths and relax. Gads, that sounds so ridiculous, but it is so true! I was just transfixed. I felt like I was truly there, sharing the fear and excitement.
The shots go back and forth through the crowd, back to the rescue crew standing around the opening of the shaft, over to the crane running and the cables moving through the pulleys. Over to shots of the wife and one son of Florencio Avalos, aged 31.
The atmosphere is so intense! A man hands the son a hardhat, while his Mother stands behind, holding his shoulders, both staring steadily and hungrily at the yawning hole in the ground about 10 feet away.
It's shocking to see how small that hole really is! It is only a little wider than an average man's shoulders! Through that small orifice, a rescue capsule is being pulled one-half mile through almost solid rock! A man encased in it as it slowly advances to his FREEDOM, and I wonder what he is feeling.
The top of the capsule slowly becomes visible, a siren shrills, and the boy tries to break away and run toward the workers. Gently his mother tightens her grip and her arms lower into a hug, the boy stops, but tears are running down both their faces. Oddly enough, so are mine. I can't believe I am feeling such emotion over this, but, there you go.
The capsule completely breaks the surface and three or four men move to open the door. They reach in and take the man into an embrace to help him stand solidly. He has on very dark glasses and a HUGE amazing smile on his face. As the men loosen their holds and step back slighty, his wife and son run into his arms, laughing and crying.
What an awesome thing to have witnessed! I was so euphoric for those people, I came straight here to write this, as I watched him leave for transporting to a Hospital! What a rush.