By ALESSANDRA STANLEY
c.2010 New York Times News Service
It was compared to a moon shot, to the airliner’s emergency landing on the Hudson and even to the World Cup, but for viewers awaiting the rescue of 33 Chilean miners, the vigil of Tuesday night and Wednesday was more like a difficult delivery: a long, tense and at times tedious labor, followed by the sudden, surprising whoosh of life.
Florencio Avalos, 31, the first miner to emerge from the rocket-shaped rescue capsule Tuesday night, was clean-shaven and amazingly hearty as he walked into the arms of his family after being pulled through a shaft about 2,000 feet long – two Eiffel Towers, as one cable anchor put it. The initial welcome was more awed than ecstatic: muted applause and cheers from rescue workers still stunned that the improbable really worked.
The waves of exuberant triumph hit the screen for real with the second rescue, when Mario Sepulveda burst out like a man shot from a canon, hugging people and pumping his fist as he led the crowd in a national chant, “Chi-chi-chi, le-le-le!”