Chile’s 33 miners head for home as celebrities

COPIAPO, Chile, (Reuters) – Chile’s rescued miners  headed home as heroes yesterday after a 69-day ordeal deep  underground during which they drank oil-contaminated water and  set off explosives in a desperate bid to alert rescuers.

The first three of the 33 men were cleared to leave a  hospital late on Thursday, returning to neighbors’ cheers a day  after their stunning rescue from the collapsed mine in Chile’s  remote northern desert. At least 10 more were set for release  on Friday, their doctors said.

The miners have became global media stars since their  widely watched rescue and have been showered with job offers  and gifts, including invitations to visit the Greek isles and  Graceland and attend European football matches.

In the working class Copiapo neighborhood of Til-Til Bajo,  near the hospital, neighbors of rescued miners Pedro Cortes and  Carlos Bugueno hung streamers and orange, pink and yellow flags  from lampposts in anticipation of their arrival.

“I’ve known the boys since they were babies,” said  shopkeeper Luis Castillo, 52. “when I heard they were alive I  cried uncontrollably.”

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera has challenged the men  to a friendly soccer match later this month after the first  wave of festivities.

“This is really incredible. It hasn’t sunk in,” said  52-year-old Juan Illanes, still wearing the dark sunglasses he  and his fellow miners were given to protect their eyes after  being stuck since Aug. 5 in a dark cavern.

Edison Pena, 34, a triathlete who ran 6 miles (10 km) a day  through the mine’s tunnels to cope with stress after the  collapse, said he didn’t expect to see his home again.

“I didn’t think I’d make it back, so this reception really  blows my mind,” he said, as waiting neighbors showered him with  confetti. “We really had a bad time.”

The men burned tires in the first days after the mine  collapse, hoping the smoke would reach the surface and alert  rescuers, and set off explosives in an effort to be heard.

When their reserves of bottled water dwindled to 10 liters,  the men began drinking from metal drums of water tainted with  motor oil.

Most of the men are surprisingly healthy considering they  were stuck in a hot, dark tunnel for so long. One was being  treated for pneumonia and others needed dental treatment, but  none are suffering serious health problems.

Experts say the most lasting damage could be emotional and  that recovery could be complicated by the public glare.

“In the mine, they were in their place,” said Alberto  Iturra, psychologist for Chile’s workplace safety agency. “Now,  everybody thinks they have a piece of them.”

Despite the trauma, some of the miners said they planned to  remain in the profession.Alex Vega, the 10th miner to be pulled out of the mine on  Wednesday, said, “I want to go back … I’m a miner at heart.  It’s something in your blood,” Vega said.

The miners, who set a world record for survival  underground, were hoisted to the surface in a metal capsule in  a rescue operation that was watched by hundreds of millions of  people worldwide and triggered celebrations across Chile.

A local singer-turned-businessman has given each of them  $10,000 each, while Apple boss Steve Jobs has sent all of them  an iPod. There also is the prospect of book and film deals.

When the mine caved in, the men were believed to have died  in yet another of Latin America’s litany of mining accidents.  But rescuers found them 2-1/2 weeks later with a bore hole the  width of a grapefruit.

That tiny hole became an umbilical cord used to pass down  hydration gels, water and food to keep them alive until a  bigger shaft could be bored to bring them up.

In a complex but flawless operation under Chile’s Atacama  desert, the miners were hauled out one by one through 2,050  feet (625 meters) of rock in a metal capsule little wider than  a man’s shoulders and dubbed “Phoenix” after the mythical bird  that rose from the ashes.

It took 24 hours to extract the miners and the six rescuers  who had gone down the escape shaft to help get the men out.

A top government official said the rescue operation cost  about $18 million and suggested the capsule — painted red,  blue and white, like the Chilean flag — might also go on a  world tour.